Error-Control Coding Algorithms and Architectures for Modern Applications

The development of algorithms and architectures for error-control coding (ECC) has been a rapidly growing field for several decades now, allowing the design of reliable data storage systems, data centers, and communication networks. Although great improvements have been achieved by the community with capacity-approaching codes and efficient implementations of gigabit decoders, more challenging requirements and constraints come with the release of new standards, the scaling of manufacturing processes, the appearance of new memory technologies, and the quantum-computing revolution. As an example of the applications that will require more advanced ECC solutions in a near future, we find the evolution of wireless networks toward a sixth generation (6G) that will need both higher data rates and lower power consumption devices, ensuring at the same time high-quality links with error-free transmissions. To achieve that, the design of new codes and decoding algorithms will be necessary, which will require the use of frameworks that combine artificial intelligence solutions with more classic coding paradigms. Additionally, innovative storage systems such as phase change memories cannot use the same solutions employed for previous technologies in the last decade due to the increase in demand for better performance and better capacity and because these new paradigms involve some new and particular reliability concerns. Finally, other well-known faulty systems are quantum computers, which are inherently prone to more errors than classical systems. Even though tremendous work has been done proposing correction techniques and codes over the years, due to its complexity, no real-time implementations have been presented for practical lengths. These are just some examples to show that, although the performance demand in terms of error correction is still very real, the present efforts are not only toward designing algorithms that provide the largest coding gain, but rather toward compatibility to specific applications and also with a focus on hardware constraints such as energy consumption, throughput, and silicon area. 

This Special Issue on “Error-Control Coding Algorithms and Architectures for Modern Applications” aims to include different implementation solutions and design of algorithms and error-correction codes, provided that such solutions suppose a significant scientific contribution in the field.

Dr. Francisco Garcia-Herrero
Dr. Shahid Mumtaz
Dr. Carmen G. Almudever
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Electronics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Error-correction codes
• FPGA/ASIC implementations
• Decoding algorithms
• Code design
• Quantum error correction