  Low-density parity-check (LDPC) convolutional codes are capable of achieving
excellent performance with low encoding and decoding complexity. In this paper
we discuss several graph-cover-based methods for deriving families of
time-invariant and time-varying LDPC convolutional codes from LDPC block codes
and show how earlier proposed LDPC convolutional code constructions can be
presented within this framework. Some of the constructed convolutional codes
significantly outperform the underlying LDPC block codes. We investigate some
possible reasons for this "convolutional gain," and we also discuss the ---
mostly moderate --- decoder cost increase that is incurred by going from LDPC
block to LDPC convolutional codes.
