New decoding chip sets data transmission energy efficiency record and is expected to be used in fields such as virtual reality and 5G networks

ORBGRAND decodes data faster and more energy-efficiently. Image source: MIT

A team of scientists led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States has developed a decoder chip that decodes data simpler and faster than traditional technology. The record-breaking low energy consumption is only one percent to one tenth of other similar hardware. It is widely used in fields such as virtual reality and 5G networks. Relevant research results were announced at the ongoing International Solid-State Circuit Conference.

All information sent over the Internet can be corrupted by noise, causing data to be erroneous. To solve this problem, the sender encodes the data before it is transmitted, and the receiver uses a decoding algorithm to correct errors and restore the original information. In some cases, the received data comes with reliability information that helps the decoder determine which parts of the information may be in error.

The research team previously demonstrated the Guessing Random Additive Noise Decoding (GRAND) algorithm, which can crack any code. The newly developed chip is based on this algorithm and is named "Ordered Reliability Bit GRAND" (ORBGRAND), which uses reliability information to sort data according to the possibility of each bit (0 or 1) being wrong.

ORBGRAND will stop sorting immediately after finding the erroneous code and use parallel processing to generate and test multiple noise patterns at the same time. Therefore, the code can be found faster and energy consumption is greatly reduced. The comparison results show that ORBGRAND can decode with the highest precision and consumes 0.76 picojoules per bit, which is only one percent to one tenth of other similar devices. Muriel Maida, the leader of the latest research, said that this is the first time that the decoding barrier of 1 picojoule/bit has been broken.

The research team noted that the latest advances could reduce the number of chips used in mobile devices, which would reduce costs and improve sustainability. In addition, by reducing energy consumption in the decoding process, the latest chips can also improve device performance and extend battery life, which is especially useful for demanding applications such as augmented reality, virtual reality and 5G networks.