Overcoming the High Error Rate of Composite DNA Letters‐Based Digital Storage through Soft‐Decision Decoding

Abstract

Abstract Composite DNA letters, by merging all four DNA nucleotides in specified ratios, offer a pathway to substantially increase the logical density of DNA digital storage (DDS) systems. However, these letters are susceptible to nucleotide errors and sampling bias, leading to a high letter error rate, which complicates precise data retrieval and augments reading expenses. To address this, Derrick‐cp is introduced as an innovative soft‐decision decoding algorithm tailored for DDS utilizing composite letters. Derrick‐cp capitalizes on the distinctive error sensitivities among letters to accurately predict and rectify letter errors, thus enhancing the error‐correcting performance of Reed‐Solomon codes beyond traditional hard‐decision decoding limits. Through comparative analyses in the existing dataset and simulated experiments, Derrick‐cp's superiority is validated, notably halving the sequencing depth requirement and slashing costs by up to 22% against conventional hard‐decision strategies. This advancement signals Derrick‐cp's significant role in elevating both the precision and cost‐efficiency of composite letter‐based DDS.

Keywords

• composite DNA letter
• DNA digital storage (DDS)
• error‐correcting code (ECC)
• soft‐decision decoding