Separation of Recursive Convolutional Codes into Sub-Codes using Galois Field Arithmetic

In this paper a novel interpretation of encoding and decoding of recursive convolutional codes is presented. By means of Galois field arithmetic a code is separated into sub-codes with a single delay operator. One of these simple sub-codes is sufficient for encoding and decoding with the equivalent trellis diagram. This paper is not targeted at performance improvements but a new insights for the analysis of recursive convolutional codes resulting in novel, possibly less complex approaches for their implementation, e.g., on a chip.