Picture of Georg Böcherer

PD Dr.-Ing. habil. Georg Böcherer

Technical University of Munich

Chair of Communications Engineering (Prof. Kramer)

Postal address

Postal:
Theresienstr. 90
80333 München

Biography

Georg Böcherer obtained his MSc degree in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology from the ETH Zürich. He spent one semester at the EPF Lausanne and wrote his master thesis at the Federal University of Pernambuco in Recife, Brazil. From 2007 to 2012 he worked towards his PhD degree at the Institute of Theoretical Information Technology at RWTH Aachen University. Since April 2012, he is with the Institute for Communications Engineering at the Technical University of Munich. His PhD thesis on probabilistic shaping received the E-Plus Dissertation Award. His work on coding for the ICT Cubes received the best paper award at ISWCS 2011. His Probabilistic Amplitude Shaping (PAS) scheme for capacity achieving and rate adaptive communication won a Bell Labs Prize in 2015. He was a co-organizer of the Munich Workshop on Coding and Modulation (MCM 2015).

Teaching

Lecturer

Teaching Assistant

Theses

Available Theses

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Research Interests

Coded Modulation with Probabilistic Shaping

In Shannon theory, the key step in calculating capacity of a communication channel is to determine the capacity-achieving input distribution. In practical systems however, almost exclusively uniform input distributions are employed. This results in the so called shaping gap, i.e., a reduction of the maximum theoretically achievable rate for reliable communication. The goal is to develop practical tools that provably allow to overcome the shaping gap. To this end, the generation of capacity-achieving distributions, forward error correction and modulation are jointly considered.

Simulation of Random Processes

The generation of random numbers with a distribution that matches (resembles) a given target distribution is a core problem relevant to many communication scenarios such as data compression, constrained coding, coded modulation, and information theoretic security. The appropriate measure of resemblance from an information theoretic point of view is the informational divergence between the generated distribution and the target distribution. I am interested in theoretic limits, algorithms, and applications.

Projects

Publications

2024

  • Plabst, D.; Prinz, T.; Diedolo, F.; Wiegart, T.; Boecherer, G.; Hanik, N.; Kramer, G.: Neural network equalizers and successive interference cancellation for bandlimited channels with a nonlinearity. IEEE Trans. Commun., 2024 more…

2023

  • Lentner, D.; Ben Yacoub, E.; Calabro, S.; Boecherer, G.; Stojanovic, N.; Kramer, G.: Concatenated forward error correction with KP4 and single parity check codes. IEEE/OSA J. Lightw. Technol., 2023, 5641-5652 more… Full text ( DOI )

2021

  • Polar coding with dynamic frozen bits. 2021, (other entry) more…
  • Böcherer, G.; Diedolo, F.; Pittala, F.: Label Extension for 32QAM: The Extra Bit for a Better FEC Performance-Complexity Tradeoff. 2020 European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC), IEEE, 2021 more… Full text ( DOI )

2020

  • Error detection using symbol distribution in a system with distribution matching and probabilistic amplitude shaping. 2020, (other entry) more…
  • Barakatain, M.; Lentner, D.; Böcherer, G.; Kschischang, F.: Performance-Complexity Tradeoffs of Concatenated FEC for Higher-Order Modulation. IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology 38 (11), 2020, 2944-2953 more… Full text ( DOI )
  • Böcherer, G.; Schulte, P.; Steiner, F.: Probabilistic Shaping: A Random Coding Experiment. International Zurich Seminar on Information and Communication Proceedings, 2020 more… Full text (mediaTUM)

2019

  • Barakatain, M.; Lentner, D.; Böcherer, G.; Kschischang, F.: Performance-Complexity Tradeoffs of Concatenated FEC for 64-QAM MLC and BICM. European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC), 2019 more…
  • Böcherer, G.; Lentner, D.; Cirino, A.; Steiner, F.: Probabilistic Parity Shaping for Linear Codes. Munich Doctoral Seminar on Communications, 2019 more…
  • Böcherer, G.; Schulte, P.; Steiner, F.: Probabilistic Shaping and Forward Error Correction for Fiber-Optic Communication Systems. IEEE/OSA Jorunal of Lightwave Technology, 2019 more… Full text ( DOI )
  • Yuan, P.; Steiner, F.; Prinz, T.; Böcherer, G.; İşcan, O.; Böhnke, R.; Xu, W.: Polar Code Construction for List Decoding. International ITG Conference on Systems, Communications and Coding, 2019 more…

2018

  • Donev, D.; Böcherer, G.: Polar-Coded Pulse Position Modulation for the Poisson Channel. 9th Advanced Satellite Multimedia Systems Conference, 2018 more…
  • Steiner, F.; Böcherer, G.; Liva, G.: Bit-Metric Decoding of Non-Binary LDPC Codes with Probabilistic Amplitude Shaping. IEEE Communication Letters 22, 2018, 2210-2213 more… Full text ( DOI )
  • Steiner, F.; Schulte, P.; Böcherer, G.: Blind Decoding-Metric Estimation for Probabilistic Shaping via Expectation Maximization. European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC), 2018, Th1H.3 more…
  • Steiner, F.; Da Silva, F.,; Yankov M.; Böcherer, G.; Schulte, P.; Forchhammer, S.; Kramer, G.: Experimental Verification of Rate Flexibility and Probabilistic Shaping by 4D Signaling. Optical Fiber Communication Conference (OFC 2018), 2018, M4E.3 more…
  • Yuan, P.; Steiner, F.; Prinz, T.; Böcherer, G.: Flexible IR-HARQ Scheme for Polar-Coded Modulation. IEEE Wireless Commun. Netw. Conf. (WCNC), 2018 more…

2017

  • Böcherer, G.: Probabilistic Shaping in Fiber-Optic Communication Systems. ITG Workshop 5.3.1, 2017 more…
  • Böcherer, G.: Probabilistic Shaping: An Information-Theoretic Foundation. 18th Joint Workshop on Communications and Coding (JWCC), 2017 more…
  • Böcherer, G.; Prinz, T.; Yuan, P.; Steiner, F.: Efficient Polar Code Construction for Higher-Order Modulation. IEEE Wireless Commun. Netw. Conf. (WCNC), 2017 more…
  • Böcherer, G.; Steiner, F.: New Modulation and Coding Paradigms for 5G and Beyond. ISWCS 2017, 2017 more…
  • Böcherer, G.; Steiner, F.; Schulte, P.: Fast Probabilistic Shaping Implementationfor Long-Haul Fiber-Optic Communication Systems. ECOC 2017, 2017 more…
  • Fehenberger, T.; Alvarado, A.; Böcherer, G.; Hanik, N.: On the Impact of Probabilistic Shaping on SNR and Information Rates in Multi-Span WDM Systems. Optical Fiber Communication Conference, OSA, 2017 more… Full text ( DOI )
  • Idler, W.; Buchali, F.; Schmalen, L.; Lach, E.; Braun, R.-P.; Böcherer, G.; Schulte, P.; Steiner, F.: Field Trial of a 1 Tb/s Super-Channel Network Using Probabilistically Shaped Constellations. J. Lightwave Technol. 35 (8), 2017, 1399-1406 more… Full text ( DOI )
  • Prinz, T.; Yuan, P.; Böcherer, G.; Steiner, F.; İşcan, O.; Böhnke, R.; Xu, W.: Polar Coded Probabilistic Amplitude Shaping for Short Packets. IEEE International Workshop on Signal Processing Advances in Wireless Communications, 2017 more…
  • Renner, J.; Fehenberger, T.; Yankov, P.; Da Ros, F.; Forchhammer, S.; Böcherer, G; Hanik, N.: Experimental Comparison of Probabilistic Shaping Methods for Unrepeated Fiber Transmission. IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology 35 (22), 2017 more… Full text ( DOI )
  • Schulte, P.; Steiner, F.; Böcherer, G.: Four Dimensional Probabilistic Shaping for Fiber-Optic Communication. Signal Processing in Photonic Communications 2017, 2017, SpM2F.5 more…
  • Steiner, F.; Böcherer, G.: Comparison of Geometric and Probabilistic Shaping with Application to ATSC 3.0. 11th International ITG Conference on Systems, Communications and Coding 2017 (SCC'2017), 2017 more…
  • Steiner, F; Liva, G; Böcherer, G.;: Ultra-Sparse Non-Binary LDPC Codes for Probabilistic Amplitude Shaping. Globecom 2017, 2017 more…
  • Thangaraj, A.; Kramer, G.; Böcherer, G.: Capacity bounds for discrete-time, amplitude-constrained, additive white Gaussian noise channels. IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory 63 (7), 2017, 4172-4182 more… Full text ( DOI )

2016

  • Buchali, F.; Idler, W.; Schmalen, L.; Böcherer, G.; Schulte, P.; Steiner, F.: Probabilistically Shaped QAM for Independent Reach, Spectral Efficiency and Bit-rate Adaptation. European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC), 2016 more…
  • Buchali, F.; Idler, W.; Schuh, K.; Schmalen, L.; Böcherer, G.; Schulte, P.; Steiner, F.; Eriksson, T. A.: Study of electrical subband multiplexing at 54 GHz modulation bandwidth for 16QAM and probabilistically shaped 64QAM. European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC), 2016 more…
  • Buchali, F.; Steiner, F.; Böcherer, G.; Schmalen, L.; Schulte, P.; Idler, W.: Rate Adaptation and Reach Increase by Probabilistically Shaped 64-QAM: An Experimental Demonstration. J. Lightwave Technol., 2016 more… Full text ( DOI )
  • Böcherer, G.: Coding and Modulation for Communication at the Shannon Limit. LNT Communications Seminar, 2016 more…
  • Böcherer, G.: On Surrogate Channels for Code Design. Second LNT & DLR Summer Workshop on Coding, 2016 more…
  • Böcherer, G.: Polar Codes: A Candidate for 5G. Center of Competence Communications (TUM-COM) Workshop on 5G Mobile Technology, 2016 more…
  • Böcherer, G.: Experimental Information Theory: Achievable Rates from Measurements. Bertinoro Workshop on Communications and Coding, 2016 more…
  • Böcherer, G.: Achievable Rate Estimates from Fiber-Optic Transmission Experiment Measurements. Sixth Van Der Meulen Seminar, 2016 more…
  • Böcherer, G.: Probabilistic Shaping: A Technique to Boost Fiber-Optic Transmission. TUM Institute for Advanced Study: Wednesday Coffee Talk, 2016 more…
  • Böcherer, G.; Steiner, F.; Schulte, P.: Opportunities of Probabilistic Shaping for Fiber-Optic Communications. Latin America Optics and Photonics Conference (LAOP), 2016 more… Full text ( DOI )
  • Fehenberger, T.; Alvarado, A.; Böcherer, G.; Hanik, N.: On Probabilistic Shaping of Quadrature Amplitude Modulation for the Nonlinear Fiber Channel. Journal of Lightwave Technology 34 (21), 2016, 5064-5074 more… Full text ( DOI )
  • Geiger, B.C.; Böcherer, G.: Greedy Algorithms for Optimal Distribution Approximation. Entropy 18, 2016, 262 more… Full text ( DOI )
  • Idler, W.; Buchali, F.; Schmalen, L.; Lach, E.; Braun, R.-P.; Böcherer, G.; Schulte, P.; Steiner, F.: Field Demonstration of 1 Tbit/s Super-Channel Network Using Probabilistically Shaped Constellations. European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC), 2016 more…
  • Pikus, M.; Kramer, G.; Böcherer, G.: Discrete signaling for non-coherent, single-antenna, Rayleigh block-fading channels. IEEE Commun. Lett., 2016 more… Full text ( DOI )
  • Schulte, P.; Böcherer, G.: Constant Composition Distribution Matching. IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, 2016 more… Full text ( DOI )
  • Steiner, F.; Böcherer, G.; Liva, G.: Protograph-Based LDPC Code Design for Shaped Bit-Metric Decoding. IEEE J. Sel. Areas Commun., 2016 more… Full text ( DOI )

2015

  • Baur, S.; Böcherer, G.: Arithmetic Distribution Matching. International ITG Conference on Systems, Communications and Coding, 2015 more…
  • Buchali, F.; Böcherer, G.; Idler, W.; Schmalen, L.; Schulte, P.; Steiner, F.: Experimental Demonstration of Capacity Increase and Rate-Adaptation by Probabilistically Shaped 64-QAM. European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC), 2015 more… Full text (mediaTUM)
  • Böcherer, G.: Bandwidth Efficient and Rate-Matched Low-Density Parity-Check Coded Modulation. Seminar at NCTU Institute of Communications Engineering, 2015 more…
  • Böcherer, G.: Bandwidth Efficient and Rate-Matched Low-Density Parity-Check Coded Modulation. NEWCOM# Emerging Topics Workshop, Cambridge, UK, 2015 more…
  • Böcherer, G.: Bandwidth Efficient and Rate-Compatible Low-Density Parity-Check Coded Modulation. Seminar at UCLA Communications Systems Laboratory, 2015 more…
  • Böcherer, G.: Closing the Ultimate Gap to Shannon Capacity. LNT Doctoral Seminar, 2015 more…
  • Böcherer, G.; Schulte, P.; Steiner, F.: Bandwidth Efficient and Rate-Matched Low-Density Parity-Check Coded Modulation. Coding and Transmission Schemes for High Rate Communications Systems, 2015, 24 more… Full text (mediaTUM)
  • Böcherer, G.; Steiner, F.; Schulte, P.: Bandwidth Efficient and Rate-Matched Low-Density Parity-Check Coded Modulation. IEEE Trans. Commun., 2015 more… Full text ( DOI ) Full text (mediaTUM)
  • Böcherer, G.; Schulte, P.;: Probabilistic Amplitude Shaping: Rate-Adaptive LDPC Coded Modulation. 17th Joint Conference on Communications and Coding (JCCC), 2015 more…
  • Fehenberger, T.; Böcherer, G.; Alvarado, A.; Hanik, N.: LDPC coded modulation with probabilistic shaping for optical fiber systems. Optical Fiber Conference (OFC), 2015 more… Full text (mediaTUM)
  • Steiner, F.; Böcherer, G.; Liva, G.: Protograph-Based LDPC Code Design for Bit-Metric Decoding. IEEE Int. Symp. Inf. Theory, 2015 more…
  • Thangaraj, A.; Kramer, G.; Böcherer, G.: Capacity upper bounds for discrete-time amplitude-constrained AWGN channels. IEEE Int. Symp. Inf. Theory, 2015 more…

2014

  • Böcherer, G.: Labeling Non-Square QAM Constellations for One-Dimensional Bit-Metric Decoding. IEEE Commun. Lett., 2014 more…
  • Böcherer, G.: Probabilistic Signal Shaping for Modulation and Coding. Seminar at Associate Institute for Signal Processing, TU Munich, 2014 more…
  • Böcherer, G.: Probabilistic Shaping and Channel Coding in Gaussian Noise. LNT & DLR Summer Workshop on Coding, 2014 more…
  • Böcherer, G.: Probabilistic Signal Shaping for Bit-Metric Decoding. IEEE Int. Symp. Inf. Theory, 2014 more…
  • Böcherer, G.; Amjad, R. A.: Informational Divergence and Entropy Rate on Rooted Trees with Probabilities. IEEE Int. Symp. Inf. Theory (ISIT), 2014 more…
  • Böcherer, G.; Fehenberger, T.;: LDPC Coded Modulation with Probabilistic Shaping for Optical Fiber Systems. Munich Workshop on Information Theory of Optical Fiber, 2014 more…
  • Böcherer, G.; Schulte, P.; Steiner, F.: Probabilistic Amplitude Shaping: Rate-Adaptive LDPC Coded Modulation. Bell Labs Future X Days, 2014 more…

2013

  • Amjad, R. A.; Böcherer, G.: Fixed-to-Variable Length Distribution Matching. IEEE Int. Symp. Inf. Theory(ISIT), 2013 more…
  • Böcherer, G.: Block-to-Block Distribution Matching. Joint Conference on Communications and Coding 2013 more…
  • Böcherer, G.: Optimal Non-Uniform Mapping for Probabilistic Shaping. International ITG Conference on Systems, Communications and Coding, 2013 more…
  • Böcherer, G.; Amjad, R. A.: Fixed-to-Variable Length Resolution Coding for Target Distributions. IEEE Information Theory Workshop (ITW), 2013 more…

2012

  • Böcherer, G.; Altenbach, F.; Alvarado, A.; Corroy,S.; Mathar, R.: An Efficient Algorithm to Calculate BICM Capacity. IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory, 2012 more…