Next-generation channel coding has stringent demands on throughput, energy consumption, and error rate performance while maintaining key features of 5G New Radio (NR) standard codes such as rate compatibility, which is a significant challenge. Due to excellent capacity-achieving performance, spatially-coupled low-density parity-check (SC-LDPC) codes are considered a promising candidate for next-generation channel coding. In this paper, we propose an SC-LDPC code family called edge-spreading Raptor-like (ESRL) codes for 6G. Unlike other SC-LDPC codes that adopt the structure of existing rate-compatible LDPC block codes before coupling, ESRL codes maximize the possible locations of edge placement and focus on constructing an optimal coupled matrix. Moreover, a new graph representation called the unified graph is introduced. This graph offers a global perspective on ESRL codes and identifies the optimal edge reallocation to optimize the spreading strategy. We conduct comprehensive comparisons of ESRL codes and 5G-NR LDPC codes. Simulation results demonstrate that when all decoding parameters and complexity are the same, ESRL codes have obvious advantages in error rate performance and throughput compared to 5G-NR LDPC codes, making them a promising solution towards next-generation channel coding.

翻译：下一代信道编码在保持5G新空口（NR）标准码的关键特性（如码率兼容性）的同时，对吞吐量、能耗和误码率性能提出了严苛要求，这是一项重大挑战。由于具备优异的逼近容量性能，空间耦合低密度奇偶校验（SC-LDPC）码被视为下一代信道编码的有力候选方案。本文针对6G系统提出了一种称为边缘扩展类Raptor（ESRL）码的SC-LDPC码族。与那些在耦合前直接采用现有码率兼容LDPC分组码结构的其他SC-LDPC码不同，ESRL码最大化边缘配置的可能位置，并专注于构建最优的耦合矩阵。此外，本文引入了一种称为统一图的新型图表示方法。该图为ESRL码提供了全局视角，并能识别最优的边缘重分配方案以优化扩展策略。我们对ESRL码与5G-NR LDPC码进行了全面比较。仿真结果表明，在所有译码参数和复杂度相同的条件下，ESRL码在误码率性能和吞吐量方面较5G-NR LDPC码具有明显优势，这使其成为面向下一代信道编码的潜力解决方案。