ACoRN Summer School 2007
Modern Channel Coding – Code Design and Iterative Decoding

When: January 29 to February 2, 2007
Where: Adelaide , South Australia
Organised by: Prof. Lars K. Rasmussen, ITR, University of South Australia

In connection with AusCTW 2007, ACoRN is bringing a NEWCOM school to Australia . ACoRN is inviting Dr. Jossy Sayir, Telecommunications Research Centre, Vienna , Austria and Dr. Ingmar Land, University of Aalborg , Denmark to Adelaide to present their course on modern channel coding.

This course will teach the principles of modern channel coding: code concatenation and iterative decoding. Soft-in soft-out decoding and decoding on factor graphs (the ingredients of iterative decoders) will be addressed. The encoding and decoding structures of parallel concatenated codes (called Turbo Codes), serially concatenated codes, low-density parity-check codes (already invented in 1964), and repeat-accumulate codes will be explained. Extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) charts will be introduced to characterize the decoding behavior and to design the codes. The course will be restricted to linear binary channel codes and memoryless communication channels. The principle of iterative decoding, however, is very general and can easily be transferred to other iterative receiver structures.

The course consists of eight mini-modules (MMs).

Morning Session
( 8:00 - 12:00) 		Afternoon Session
( 13:00 - 17:00)
Monday Welcome and MM1 MM2
Tuesday MM3 MM4
Wednesday MM5 Social event
Thursday MM6 MM7
Friday MM8 and closing discussion  

Lunch breaks are from 12:00 to 13:00.  A social event will be organized on Wednesday afternoon.  The course is over at Friday noon.

Each MM consists of two hours lecture, two hours exercises, and a coffee break in between.

MM1 - History
- Example for the binary erasure channel
MM2 - Linear coding
- Channels
- Information Theory
MM3 - Low-density parity-check codes
- Sum-product algorithm
MM4 - Density evolution for the binary erasure channel
- Density evolution for general channels
MM5 - Extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) charts
- Information combining
- Min-sum algorithm
MM6 - Convolutional Codes
- Weight enumerating functions
MM7 - Serially concatenated codes
- Parallel concatenated codes (turbo codes)
MM8 - Encoding of low-density party-check codes
- Repeat-accumulate codes
- Advanced topics

The school will feature extensive use of Matlab exercises, so students attending the school are encouraged to bring along a laptop with Matlab installed.
No computers will be available at the venue.

Registration

Participation in this school is open to all to attend.

The seating capacity of the venue is limited. In case capacity is exceeded, preference will be given to ACoRN/NEWCOM students and researchers.

Registration Fees

ACoRN/NEWCOM Members

AUD$300

Non ACoRN/NEWCOM Member

AUD$600

Registration includes hand outs from the attended courses, morning and afternoon tea.

All prices include 10% GST

ACoRN Members : Remember that you may be eligible for a Attendance Grants.

Registration Form

Please register for the school by completing the registration form below and fax it to the ACoRN Network Administrator Christine Thursby at +61 8 8302 3873.

Registrations will be confirmed via email.

Refund Policy

  • Registration cancellations up to 22 January 2007 : 85% refund
  • Registration cancellations from 22 January 2007 : no refund

Venue

The school will be held at Room S112, Engineering South Building, University of Adelaide, North Terrace, Adelaide. View map of University of Adelaide North Terrace Campus (PDF 672Kb).

Accommodation

Accommodation Option

ACoRN and the University of South Australia have pre-booked a number of rooms at St. Ann’s College for attendees seeking accommodation over the ACoRN Summer School and AusCTW07 conference period. To take advantage of this optional service, you must complete the accommodation application form available at the AusCTW website at http://www.ausctw.org/accomodation

For hotels where you can get discount bookings, try the links below. Look for hotels in Adelaide or North Adelaide if you want to have a wide selection of cafes/restaurants for breakfast and dinner. If you want to be close to the school venue, look for hotels in Mawson Lakes .

Otherwise, here are some suggestions:

  • Gurney Lodge, North Adelaide (approx. $70-$90 per unit (2-3 people), per night, 20 minutes walk from city centre, 30 minutes bus ride from ITR)
    http://www.gurnylodge.com/
  • Adelaide Backpackers Hostel (approx. $20-$60 per night, 5 minutes walk from city centre, 30 minutes bus ride from ITR)
    http://www.adelaidehostel.com.au/
  • Mawson Lakes Hotel, Mawson Lakes (approx. $130-$150 per room (2 people), per night, 30 minutes bus ride from the city centre, 5 minutes walk from ITR)

Travel Support

For eligible ACoRN members travel support is available through the ACoRN Domestic Conference/Workshop Attendance Grants.

Additional Information

For more information, please contact ACoRN and the administration staff can either answer your query or pass onto someone who can.