A Golden Decade of Polar Codes:From Basic Principle to 5G Applications

After the pursuit of seventy years,the invention of polar codes indicates that we have found the first capacity-achieving coding with low complexity construction and decoding,which is the great breakthrough of the coding theory in the past two decades.In this survey,we retrospect the history of polar codes and summarize the advancement in the past ten years.First,the primary principle of channel polarization is investigated such that the basic construction,coding method and the classic successive cancellation(SC)decoding are reviewed.Second,in order to improve the performance of the finite code length,we introduce the guiding principle and conclude five design criteria for the construction,design and implementation of the polar code in the practical communication system based on the exemplar schemes in the literature.Especially,we explain the design principle behind the concatenated coding and rate matching of polar codes in 5G wireless system.Furthermore,the improved SC decoding algorithms,such as SC list(SCL)decoding and SC stack(SCS)decoding etc.,are investigated and compared.Finally,the research prospects of polar codes for the future 6G communication system are explored,including the optimization of short polar codes,coding construction in fading channels,polar coded modulation and HARQ,and the polar coded transmission,namely polar processing.Predictably,as a new coding methodology,polar codes will shine a light on communication theory and unveil a revolution in transmission technology.

Unsourced Multiple Access for 6G Massive Machine Type Communications

Unsourced multiple access(UMA)is a multi-access technology for massive,low-power,uncoordinated,and unsourced Machine Type Communication(MTC)networks.It ensures transmission reliability under the premise of high energy efficiency.Based on the analysis of the 6G MTC key performance indicators(KPIs)and scenario characteristics,this paper summarizes its requirements for radio access networks.Following this,the existing multiple access models are analyzed under these standards to determine UMA's advantages for 6G MTC according to its design characteristics.The critical technology of UMA is the design of its multiple-access coding scheme.Therefore,the existing UMA coding schemes from different coding paradigms are further summarized and compared.In particular,this paper comprehensively considers the energy efficiency and computational complexity of these schemes,studies the changes of the above two indexes with the increase of access scale,and considers the trade-off between the two.It is revealed by the above analysis that some guiding rules of UMA coding design.Finally,the open problems and potentials in this field are given for future research.