On a technique to calculate the exact performance of a convolutional code

Author

Best, M.R. ; Burnashev, M.V. ; Levy, Y. ; Rabinovich, A. ; Fishburn, P.C. ; Calderbank, A.R. ; Costello, D.J., Jr.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Twente Univ., Enschede, Netherlands

Volume

41

Issue

2

fYear

1995

fDate

3/1/1995 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

441

Lastpage

447

Abstract

A Markovian technique is described to calculate the exact performance of the Viterbi algorithm used as either a channel decoder or a source encoder for a convolutional code. The probability of information bit error and the expected Hamming distortion are computed for codes of various rates and constraint lengths. The concept of tie-breaking rules is introduced and its influence on decoder performance is examined. Computer simulation is used to verify the accuracy of the results. Finally, we discuss the issue of when a coded system outperforms an uncoded system in light of the new results.<>

Keywords

Markov processes; Viterbi decoding; convolutional codes; probability; Hamming distortion; Markovian technique; Viterbi algorithm; channel decoder; code constraint lengths; code rates; coded system; computer simulation; convolutional code; decoder performance; exact performance; information bit error probability; source encoder; tie-breaking rules; uncoded system; Computer errors; Computer simulation; Conferences; Convolutional codes; Engineering profession; Error probability; Maximum likelihood decoding; NASA; Quantization; Viterbi algorithm;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Information Theory, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9448

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/18.370145

Filename

370145