Abstract

Polar codes are a class of error-correcting codes that can achieve channel capacity using low-complexity encoding and decoding algorithms. In this talk, the speaker will give a brief overview of polar coding, followed by a discussion of recent advances in polar coding. First, the speaker will discuss a 22nm ASIC implementation of polar codes for use-cases targeting terabit-per-sec data rates. Second, he will discuss a new type of code that combines convolutional coding with channel polarization to achieve near optimal performance while still being practically implementable. A number of open research problems will also be presented.

About the Speaker

Prof. Erdal Arıkan received his S.M. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1982 and 1985 respectively. He was an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, before joining Bilkent University in 1987, where he is currently Professor of Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

Prof. Arıkan’s research interests are in the areas of information theory and coding and communication systems. In 2008, he invented polar codes, a system of coding that provides a mathematical basis for the solution of Shannon’s channel capacity problem.

Prof. Arıkan received the 2010 IEEE Information Theory Society Best Paper Award, the 2013 IEEE W. R. G. Baker Award and the 2018 IEEE Richard W. Hamming Award for his work on polar coding. In 2018, Huawei presented a special award to Prof. Arikan in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the development of communications technology. He was also the recipient of the 2019 Claude E. Shannon Award of IEEE Information Theory Society. He has been an IEEE Fellow since 2012.