Noniterative Joint Channel Equalization and Decoding Based on State Extended Viterbi Algorithm

A new receiver for convolutional coded information, which performs both the equalization and decoding in a joint scheme, based on the Viterbi algorithm is proposed. This method is based on creating a trellis for the joint system assuming some virtual auxiliary registers in the structure of the coder. In this way, the state space of the convolutional coder extends to support different states of the channel, enabling the receiver to include different states of the channel directly during the process of recovering the source information. Simulations indicate that the capability of taking the channel states into account during the decoding increases the performance of the overall receiver in the case of channels with memory. Also, the proposed method has lower complexity than a separated equalizer and hard decoder structure. A similar receiver for a memoryless channel can outperform conventional receivers. Simulation results for channels with and without memory are discussed.