Analysis of convolutional codes on the erasure channel

This paper describes the analysis of convolutional codes on the erasure channel. We compare the maximum likelihood (ML) sequence decision and the maximum a posteriori (MAP) symbol decision for codes, which are transmitted over the erasure channel. When a codeword from a linear error correcting code with elements from the field GF is transmitted over a q-ary erasure channel, the symbol error rate of the maximum likelihood (ML) sequence decision is the same as that of the symbol maximum a posteriori (MAP) probability decision. When decoding convolutional codes transmitted over an AWGN channel, it is widely known that the probability of symbol error for the Viterbi algorithm (which is a sequence ML decoder) is generally higher than that for the more complex BCJR algorithm (which is a symbol MAP decoder).