According to some embodiments, a method for polar encoding includes obtaining an input bits index array Q, wherein each element Q[i] is an index of a polar coded transmission channel and corresponds to an input U[i] of a polar encoder. The elements of Q are ordered according to their associated channel quality. The method further includes obtaining an integer number X of bits for polar encoding and wireless transmission, wherein X is not greater than N. Upon determining the polar code block length N is not greater than the number of rate matched bits M available for transmission, the method includes assigning each of the bits as inputs to the polar encoder ordered according to the input bits index array Q.