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Telecommunications equipment industry

Turbo Codes Revolutionize Telecommunications with Faster and More Error-Free Data Transfer Rates

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

Researchers and industry leaders predicted that computer turbo codes will transform telecommunications, enabling faster and more efficient data transfer rates while saving transmitter power. In the past decade, hundreds of laboratories worldwide have been working on turbo codes, with telecommunications giants like France Telecom and NTT DoCoMo leading the effort. The invention of turbo codes has also triggered research into other codes that can approach channel capacity, with low-density parity check (LDPC) codes emerging as a potential competitor for next-generation wireless network standards.

Key Takeaways:

  • Turbo codes, developed by Claude Berrou and Alain Glavieux, can increase performance by up to a factor of two compared to older code systems.
  • The codes allow for faster and more error-free data transfer rates while saving transmitter power.
  • Hundreds of laboratories worldwide, including telecommunications giants like France Telecom and NTT DoCoMo, have been working on turbo codes for the past decade.
  • Turbo codes work by employing two encoders at either end of a transmission, helping to deal with the complexity in computation required to boost turbo codes to speeds previously thought impossible.
  • The first NASA missions to use turbo codes will be the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Messenger probe, aimed at communicating with power-starved missions like those going to other planets.
  • Turbo codes have been proven to be effective in real-world applications, including Japan's mobile phones and the European Space Agency's SMART-1 space probe.
  • Researchers have also discovered that low-density parity check (LDPC) codes can outperform turbo codes and have an even lower complexity, making them a potential competitor for next-generation wireless network standards.

Statistics:

  • Turbo codes can increase performance by up to a factor of two compared to older code systems.
  • The invention of turbo codes has triggered research into other codes that can approach channel capacity, with low-density parity check (LDPC) codes emerging as a potential competitor.
  • Hundreds of laboratories worldwide have been working on turbo codes for the past decade.
  • Turbo codes have been used in real-world applications, including Japan's mobile phones (reported in the March 2004 issue of IEEE Spectrum).
  • The European Space Agency's SMART-1 space probe was launched in September 2004, using turbo codes for data transmission.
  • Turbo codes will be used in NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Messenger probe.
  • LDPC codes patents have expired, allowing companies to use them without paying intellectual property rights.

Sources:

  • UPI Science News: "New computer turbo codes promise to revolutionize telecommunications" (February 26, 2004)
  • United Press International: interview with Fabrizio Pollara, deputy manager of communications systems and research section at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  • IEEE Spectrum: "Turbo Codes" (March 2004 issue)
  • European Space Agency: press release on the launch of SMART-1 (September 2004)
  • NASA: press release on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Messenger probe.

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