Abstract
Ultra-reliable and low-latency communication (URLLC) in 6G networks is characterized by very high reliability and very low latency to enable mission-critical applications. The ability of a coding scheme to support diverse use cases requires flexibility on the part of the decoder. High reliability and low latency require decoders with improved error rate performance and reduced complexity. This article investigates candidate universal decoding algorithms for 6G communication scenarios. Universal decoders work on a wide range of error-correcting codes, making them scalable for different communication protocols. This article undertakes the comparative analysis and performance evaluation of the code-agnostic decoding schemes, including automorphism ensemble (AED), guessing random additive noise (GRAND), ordered statistics (OSD), belief propagation (BPD), bit flipping (BFD), and their variants. Simulations are carried out in MATLAB (R2024a) for the error rate performance of decoders, and plots are provided for the comparative analysis from the results of inferred data. The key findings in this paper highlight the competitive advantage of universal decoding techniques in comparison to the standardized CA-SCL decoding of polar code. Consequently, this work will help in identifying more efficient decoding algorithms for potential 6G URLLC applications. We aim to provide an insight into the scalability of universal decoding techniques by exploring their key performance metrics and comparing their performances.