A New List Decoding Algorithm for Short-Length TBCCs With CRC

In this paper, a new list decoding algorithm for tail-biting convolutional codes (TBCCs) with a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) is proposed, where the CRC is considered as a concatenated outer code. The main idea of the proposed algorithm is to modify the list decoding procedure of the TBCC by using the CRC. Two algorithms are proposed for the list decoding of the TBCC with the CRC. The first proposed algorithm is a new initial state estimating algorithm using re-encoded CRC bits and having the low computational complexity. The other proposed algorithm is a modified list Viterbi algorithm, where trellis paths are fixed by re-encoded CRC bits and some CRC bits are used for the error correction. For the TBCC concatenated with the CRC code defined in the long-term evolution standard, the proposed decoding scheme by partially using CRC bits outperforms the conventional list decoding algorithms for the list size L = 4 even though the proposed algorithm has the lower decoding complexity.