Rateless codes with adaptive parity allocation for satellite systems

In this paper, we propose efficient parity allocation schemes when rateless codes are used in satellite communication systems in conjunction with an adaptive coding and modulation (ACM) scheme. ACM schemes are widely used in modern satellite communication systems to maintain the required error rate performance under channel impairment (such as rain fading observed in high-frequency bands). The performance enhancement of ACM can be achieved by providing a good channel prediction and mode allocation method. In the case of a channel prediction or allocation error, rateless codes can be used as an effective means of retransmission to compensate for the performance degradation. After investigating the performance behaviour of rateless codes combined with ACM, we derive a mathematical formula to find the optimum parity length of the rateless code to be retransmitted to satisfy the target performance requirements. Simulation results described in this paper show that the proposed method can be used to enhance the error performance as well as spectral efficiency.