Performance analysis of a multistage decoding strategy for multilevel coded modulation systems

The authors propose a decoding strategy based on the multistage decoding method of Imai and Hirakawa (1977). This scheme is shown to be a generalization of the conventional multistage decoders. A general procedure to derive an upper bound on the bit error probability, which takes into account wrong side information effects, is stated. Finally. a comparison with conventional multistage decoders is presented to show that the proposed decoding strategy outperforms the previous ones