An adaptive and complexity reduced decoding algorithm for convolutional codes and its application to digital broadcasting systems

Convolutional codes are still prevalent in digital broadcasting systems, like DVB-T, DVB-H, DAB, DMB and DRM. This paper presents an adaptive and complexity reduced decoding algorithm for CCs. The proposed algorithm is based on the earlier proposed block syndrome decoder (BSD) and features a significant reduction of decoding effort depending on the current channel conditions. Additionally it is capable of adapting its output bit error rate to a given threshold to achieve a further reduction of decoding complexity. For this purpose, an SNR estimation is incorporated to achieve an adaption of decoding performance to a given bit error rate threshold in dynamic SNR environments. This is especially useful for the widely used serially concatenated coding schemes, which is demonstrated by means of the terrestrial DVB system.