Research and Development for 
Space Data System Standards 
LOW DENSITY PARITY 
CHECK CODES FOR USE IN 
NEAR-EARTH AND DEEP 
SPACE APPLICATIONS 
EXPERIMENTAL SPECIFICATION 
CCSDS 131.1-O-2 
September 2007 
 
Research and Development for 
Space Data System Standards 
LOW DENSITY PARITY 
CHECK CODES FOR USE IN 
NEAR-EARTH AND DEEP 
SPACE APPLICATIONS 
EXPERIMENTAL SPECIFICATION 
CCSDS 131.1-O-2 
 
September 2007 
EXPERIMENTAL SPECIFICATION FOR LOW DENSITY PARITY CHECK CODES 
 
 
 
Issue: 
  Date: 
 
 
Location: 
AUTHORITY 
Orange Book, Issue 2 
September 2007 
Washington, DC, USA 
 
 
 
This document has been approved for release by the Consultative Committee for Space Data 
Systems  (CCSDS).    The  procedure  for  review  and  authorization  of  CCSDS  documents  is 
detailed in the Procedures Manual for the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems. 
 
This document is published and maintained by: 
 
CCSDS Secretariat 
Space Communications and Navigation Office, 7L70 
Space Operations Mission Directorate 
NASA Headquarters 
Washington, DC 20546-0001, USA 
CCSDS 131.1-O-2 
Page i 
September 2007 
EXPERIMENTAL SPECIFICATION FOR LOW DENSITY PARITY CHECK CODES 
FOREWORD 
This document is a CCSDS Experimental specification for a set of Low Density Parity Check 
(LDPC) codes.  It was contributed to CCSDS by NASA. 
Through  the  process  of  normal  evolution,  it  is  expected  that  expansion,  deletion,  or 
modification  of  this  document  may  occur.    This  Experimental  Specification  is  therefore 
subject to CCSDS document management and change control procedures, which are defined 
in the Procedures Manual for the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems.  Current 
versions of CCSDS documents are maintained at the CCSDS Web site: 
http://www.ccsds.org/ 
Questions  relating  to  the  contents  or  status  of  this  document  should  be  addressed  to  the 
CCSDS Secretariat at the address indicated on page i. 
CCSDS 131.1-O-2 
Page ii 
September 2007 
EXPERIMENTAL SPECIFICATION FOR LOW DENSITY PARITY CHECK CODES 
At time of publication, the active Member and Observer Agencies of the CCSDS were: 
 
Member Agencies 
 
–  Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI)/Italy. 
–  British National Space Centre (BNSC)/United Kingdom. 
–  Canadian Space Agency (CSA)/Canada. 
–  Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES)/France. 
–  Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR)/Germany. 
–  European Space Agency (ESA)/Europe. 
–  Federal Space Agency (FSA)/Russian Federation. 
– 
–  Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)/Japan. 
–  National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/USA. 
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)/Brazil. 
 
Observer Agencies 
 
–  Austrian Space Agency (ASA)/Austria. 
–  Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BFSPO)/Belgium. 
–  Central Research Institute of Machine Building (TsNIIMash)/Russian Federation. 
–  Centro Tecnico Aeroespacial (CTA)/Brazil. 
–  Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)/China. 
–  Chinese Academy of Space Technology (CAST)/China. 
–  Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO)/Australia. 
–  Danish National Space Center (DNSC)/Denmark. 
–  European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites 
(EUMETSAT)/Europe. 
Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)/India. 
Institute of Space Research (IKI)/Russian Federation. 
–  European Telecommunications Satellite Organization (EUTELSAT)/Europe. 
–  Hellenic National Space Committee (HNSC)/Greece. 
– 
– 
–  KFKI Research Institute for Particle & Nuclear Physics (KFKI)/Hungary. 
–  Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI)/Korea. 
–  MIKOMTEK: CSIR (CSIR)/Republic of South Africa. 
–  Ministry of Communications (MOC)/Israel. 
–  National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT)/Japan. 
–  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/USA. 
–  National Space Organization (NSPO)/Taiwan. 
–  Naval Center for Space Technology (NCST)/USA. 
–  Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO)/Pakistan. 
–  Swedish Space Corporation (SSC)/Sweden. 
–  United States Geological Survey (USGS)/USA. 
CCSDS 131.1-O-2 
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September 2007 
EXPERIMENTAL SPECIFICATION FOR LOW DENSITY PARITY CHECK CODES 
PREFACE 
This  document  is  a  CCSDS  Experimental  Specification.    Its  Experimental  status  indicates 
that it is part of a research or development effort based on prospective requirements, and as 
such  it  is  not  considered  a  Standards  Track  document.    Experimental  Specifications  are 
intended to demonstrate technical feasibility in anticipation of a ‘hard’ requirement that has 
not yet emerged.  Experimental work may be rapidly transferred onto the Standards Track 
should a hard requirement emerge in the future. 
CCSDS 131.1-O-2 
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September 2007 
EXPERIMENTAL SPECIFICATION FOR LOW DENSITY PARITY CHECK CODES 
DOCUMENT CONTROL 
 
Document 
 
CCSDS 
131.1-O-1 
 
CCSDS 
131.1-O-2 
Title 
 
Low Density Parity Check Codes for 
Use in Near-Earth and Deep Space 
Applications, Experimental 
Specification, Issue 1 
 
Low Density Parity Check Codes for 
Use in Near-Earth and Deep Space 
Applications, Experimental 
Specification, Issue 2 
 
EC 1 
 
EC 2 
 
Editorial Correction 
 
Editorial Correction 
Date 
 
August 
2006 
Status 
 
Original issue, 
superseded 
 
September 
2007 
 
October 
2007 
 
June 
2008 
 
Current issue:  
substantive changes from 
the original issue are 
indicated by change bars 
in the inside margin. 
 
Corrects erroneous value 
in table A-1. 
 
On page 2-7, last 
sentence,  corrects 
reference to subsection of 
reference [1] from 6.6 to 
6.3. 
CCSDS 131.1-O-2 
Page v 
June 2008
September 2007 
EXPERIMENTAL SPECIFICATION FOR LOW DENSITY PARITY CHECK CODES 
Section 
Page 
CONTENTS 
1  INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1-1 
 
1.1  APPLICABILITY AND SCOPE ............................................................................ 1-1 
1.2  NOMENCLATURE ............................................................................................... 1-2 
1.3  CONVENTIONS .................................................................................................... 1-2 
1.4  REFERENCES ....................................................................................................... 1-3 
 
2  LOW DENSITY PARITY CHECK CODE OPTIMIZED FOR NEAR EARTH 
APPLICATIONS ........................................................................................................... 2-1 
 
2.1  OVERVIEW ........................................................................................................... 2-1 
2.2  BASE (8176,7156) LDPC CODE .......................................................................... 2-3 
2.3  ENCODING ............................................................................................................ 2-5 
2.4  SHORTENED (8160, 7136) CODE ....................................................................... 2-6 
2.5  RANDOMIZATION AND SYNCHRONIZATION .............................................. 2-7 
 
3  LOW DENSITY PARITY CHECK CODE FAMILY OPTIMIZED FOR DEEP 
SPACE APPLICATIONS ............................................................................................. 3-1 
 
3.1  OVERVIEW ........................................................................................................... 3-1 
3.2  SPECIFICATION ................................................................................................... 3-4 
3.3  PARITY CHECK MATRICES .............................................................................. 3-5 
3.4  ENCODING ............................................................................................................ 3-8 
3.5  SYNCHRONIZATION ........................................................................................ 3-11 
 
ANNEX A  ANNEX TO SECTION 2, LOW DENSITY PARITY CHECK  
CODE OPTIMIZED FOR NEAR-EARTH APPLICATIONS ................. A-1 
ANNEX B  ANNEX TO SECTION 3, LOW DENSITY PARITY CHECK  
CODE FAMILY OPTIMIZED FOR DEEP SPACE APPLICATIONS ...B-1 
ANNEX C  INFORMATIVE REFERENCES ................................................................ C-1 
Figure 
1-1  Bit Numbering Convention ........................................................................................... 1-2 
2-1  Example of a 15 × 15 Circulant Matrix ........................................................................ 2-2 
2-2  Example of a Quasi-Cyclic Matrix ............................................................................... 2-2 
2-3  Base Parity Check Matrix of the (8176, 7156) LDPC Code ........................................ 2-3 
2-4  Scatter Chart of Parity Check Matrix ........................................................................... 2-3 
2-5  Systematic Circulant Generator Matrix ........................................................................ 2-6 
2-6  Shortened Codeword .................................................................................................... 2-7 
CCSDS 131.1-O-2 
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September 2007