  A novel code construction based on spatially coupled low-density parity-check
(SC-LDPC) codes is presented. The proposed code ensembles are described by
protographs, comprised of several protograph-based chains characterizing
individual SC-LDPC codes. We demonstrate that code ensembles obtained by
connecting appropriately chosen SC-LDPC code chains at specific points have
improved iterative decoding thresholds compared to those of single SC-LDPC
coupled chains. In addition, it is shown that the improved decoding properties
of the connected ensembles result in reduced decoding complexity required to
achieve a specific bit error probability. The constructed ensembles are also
asymptotically good, in the sense that the minimum distance grows linearly with
the block length. Finally, we show that the improved asymptotic properties of
the connected chain ensembles also translate into improved finite length
performance.
