Performance of the multitrellis Viterbi algorithm for sparse channels

Reports the error probability, P/sub e/, of a novel receiver structure for data transmission over multipath channels characterized by a long impulse response but with only few coarsely located coefficients, as can be found in HF and mobile radio systems. The structure makes use of an optimized Viterbi algorithm, named the multitrellis Viterbi algorithm (MVA), whose complexity depends only on the number of nonzero coefficients of the channel. Performance of the MVA is compared with that obtained by other classical algorithms; namely the decision feedback equalizer (DFE) and the reduce-state sequence estimator (RSSE). When the channel has minimum phase, performance of the MVA is comparable to that of the RSSE and both save few dB of signal to noise ratio (at P/sub e/=10/sup -3/) with respect to the DFE. However, for non-minimum phase channels, while the P/sub e/ of the RSSE deteriorates drastically, the P/sub e/ of the MVA is not affected by the phase response of the channel.