Flexible polar encoders and decoders

A system for encoding data comprising:

• at least one processing unit;
• and
• a non-transitory memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processing unit and comprising computer-readable program instructions executable by the at least one processing unit for:
• inputting data to a first pipeline of a non-systematic polar encoder capable of encoding a polar code of length nmax;
• extracting, via at least one first multiplexer of size log nmax×1, a first polar code of length n<nmax at a first location along the first pipeline to generate a first encoded output;
• modifying the first encoded output to set frozen bits to a known value to obtain a modified first encoded output;
• inputting the modified first encoded output to a second pipeline of the non-systematic polar encoder;
• and
• extracting, via at least one second multiplexer of size log nmax×1, a second polar code of length n<nmax at a second location along the second pipeline to generate a second encoded output, the second encoded output corresponding to a systematically encoded polar code of length n.

A non-systematic polar encoder for encoding a polar code of length nmax, comprising:

• a first pipeline defining a first input and a first output, and configured for receiving input data and generating a first encoded output;
• at least one mask applicable to the first encoded output to set frozen bits to a known value to obtain a modified first encoded output;
• a second pipeline defining a second input and a second output, and configured for receiving the modified first encoded output and generating a second encoded output, the encoded second output corresponding to a systematically encoded polar code of length n<nmax;
• and
• an extraction circuit comprising at least one first multiplexer of size log nmax×1 for extracting the polar code of length n at a location along the first pipeline and the second pipeline upstream from the first output and the second output, respectively.