Channel decoder architecture for 3G mobile wireless terminals

Channel coding is a key element of any digital wireless communication system since it minimizes the effects of noise and interference on the transmitted signal. In third-generation (3G) wireless systems channel coding techniques must serve both voice and data users whose requirements considerably vary. Thus the third generation partnership project (3GPP) standard offers two coding techniques, convolutional-coding for voice and turbo-coding for data services. In this paper we present a combined channel decoding architecture for 3G terminal applications. It outperforms a solution based on two separate decoders due to an efficient reuse of computational hardware and memory resources for both decoders. Moreover it supports blind transport format detection. Special emphasis is put on low energy consumption.