Viet Nam National University Ho Chi Minh City

University of Science
Faculty of Electronics & Telecommunications

Chapter 8b: Error Correcting Codes:

Convolutional codes

Dang Le Khoa
dlkhoa@hcmus.edu.vn
 Introduction

⚫ In block coding, the encoder accepts k-bit message block and

generates n-bit codewordBlock-by-block basis
⚫ Encoder must buffer an entire message block before
generating the codeword
⚫ When the message bits come in serially rather than in large
blocks, using buffer is undesirable
⚫ Convolutional coding

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 Definitions

⚫ An convolutional encoder: a finite-state machine that consists

of an M-stage shift register, n modulo-2 adders
⚫ L-bit message sequence produces an output sequence with
n(L+M) bits
⚫ Code rate:
L
r= (bits/symbol)
n( L + M )

⚫ L>>M, so
1
r= (bits/symbol)
n

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 Definitions

⚫ Constraint length (K): the number of shifts over which a

single message bit influence the output
⚫ M-stage shift register: needs M+1 shifts for a message to
enter the shift register and come out
⚫ K=M+1

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 Example

⚫ Convolutional code (2,1,2)

– n=2: 2 modulo-2 adders or 2 outputs
– k=1: 1 input
– M=2: 2 stages of shift register (K=M+1=2+1=3)

Path 1

Input
Output

Path 2
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 Example
⚫ Convolutional code (3,2,1)
– n=3: 3 modulo-2 adders or 3 outputs
– k=2: 2 input
– M=1: 1 stages of each shift register (K=2 each

Output
Input

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 Generations

⚫ Convolutional code is nonsystematic code

⚫ Each path connecting the output to the input can be
characterized by impulse response or generator polynomial
(i ) (i ) (i ) (i )
⚫ ( g M ,..., g 2 , g1 , g 0 ) denoting the impulse response of the ith path
⚫ Generator polynomial of the ith path:
g (i ) ( D) = g M(i ) D M + ... + g 2(i ) D 2 + g1(i ) D + g0(i )
⚫ D denotes the unit-delay variabledifferent from X of cyclic
codes
⚫ A complete convilutional code described by a set of
polynomials { g (1) ( D), g ( 2) ( D),..., g ( n) ( D) }

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 Example(1/8)

⚫ Consider the case of (2,1,2)

⚫ Impulse response of path 1 is (1,1,1)
⚫ The corresponding generator polynomial is
g (1) ( D) = D2 + D + 1

⚫ Impulse response of path 2 is (1,0,1)

⚫ The corresponding generator polynomial is
g ( 2) ( D) = D 2 + 1

⚫ Message sequence (11001)

⚫ Polynomial representation: m( D) = D4 + D3 + 1

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 Example(2/8)
⚫ Output polynomial of path 1:
c (1) ( D) = m( D) g (1) ( D)
= ( D 4 + D 3 + 1)( D 2 + D + 1)
= D6 + D5 + D 4 + D5 + D 4 + D3 + D 2 + D + 1
= D6 + D3 + D 2 + D + 1

⚫ Output sequence of path 1 (1001111)

⚫ Output polynomial of path 2:
c ( 2 ) ( D ) = m( D ) g ( 2 ) ( D )
= ( D 4 + D 3 + 1)( D 2 + 1)
= D6 + D 4 + D5 + D3 + D 2 + 1

⚫ Output sequence of path 2 (1111101)

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 Example(3/8)

⚫ m= (11001)
⚫ c(1)=(1001111)
⚫ c(2)=(1111101)
⚫ Encoded sequence c=(11,01,01,11,11,10,11)
⚫ Message length L=5bits
⚫ Output length n(L+K-1)=14bits
⚫ A terminating sequence of K-1=2 zeros is appended to
the last input bit for the shift register to be restored to
its zero initial state

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 Example(4/8)

⚫ Another way to calculate the output:

⚫ Path 1:
m 111 output
001001 1 1
00100 11 0
0010 011 0
001 001 1 1
00 100 11 1
0 010 011 1
001 0011 1
c(1)=(1001111)
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 Example(5/8)
⚫ Path 2

m 101 output
001001 1 1
00100 11 1
0010 011 1
001 001 1 1
00 100 11 1
0 010 011 0
001 0011 1
c(2)=(1111101)

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 Example(6/8)

⚫ Consider the case of (3,2,1)

Output
Input

⚫ gi( j ) = ( gi(,Mj ) , gi(,Mj ) −1 ,..., gi(,1j ) , g i(,0j ) )

denoting the impulse
response of the jth path corresponding to ith input
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 Example(7/8)

Output
Input

g1(1) = (11)  g1(1) ( D) = D + 1

g 2(1) = (01)  g1(1) ( D) = 1
g1( 2) = (01)  g1( 2 ) ( D) = 1
g 2( 2) = (10)  g 2( 2) ( D) = D
g1(3) = (11)  g1(1) ( D) = D + 1
g 2(3) = (10)  g1(1) ( D) = D

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 Example(8/8)
⚫ Assume that:
– m(1)=(101)m(1)(D)=D2+1
– m(2)=(011)m(1)(D)=D+1
⚫ Outputs are:
⚫ c(1)=m(1)*g1(1)+m(2)*g2(1)
= (D2+1)(D+1)+(D+1)(1)
=D3+D2+D+1+D+1=D3+D2c(1)=(1100)
⚫ c(2)=m(1)*g1(2)+m(2)*g2(2)
= (D2+1)(1)+(D+1)(D)
=D2+1+D2+D=D+1 c(2)=(0011)
⚫ c(3)=m(1)*g1(3)+m(2)*g2(3)
= (D2+1)(D+1)+(D+1)(D)
=D3+D2+D+1+D2+D=1=D3+1 c(3)=(1001)
⚫ Output c=(101,100,010,011)
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 State diagram

Consider convolutional code (2,1,2) state Binary

1/10 description
d a 00
11 b 10
c 01
1/01 0/01 d 11
0/10

⚫ 4 possible states
b 10 01 c
⚫ Each node has 2 incoming branches,
1/00
2 outgoing branches
0/11 ⚫ A transition from on state to another
1/11 in case of input 0 is represented by a
solid line and of input 1 is
00 represented by dashed line
a ⚫ Output is labeled over the transition
line 16
0/00
 1/10

d
Example 11

1/01 0/01
⚫ Message 11001 0/10

⚫ Start at state a b 10 01 c

⚫ Walk through the state 1/00

diagram in accordance 0/11
1/11
with message
sequence 00
a
0/00

Input 1 1 0 0 1 0 0

State 00 10 11 01 00 10 01 00
a b d c a b c a
Output 11 01 01 11 11 10 11
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 Trellis(1/2)

0/00 0/00 0/00 0/00 0/00 0/00 0/00 0/00

a=00

b=10

c=01

d=11
1/10 1/10 1/10 1/10
Level j=0 1 2 3 4 5 L-1 L L+1 L+2

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 Trellis(1/2)
⚫ The trellis contains (L+K) levels
⚫ Labeled as j=0,1,…,L,…,L+K-1
⚫ The first (K-1) levels correspond to the encoder’s
departure from the initial state a
⚫ The last (K-1) levels correspond to the encoder’s
return to state a
⚫ For the level j lies in the range K-1jL, all the
states are reachable

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 ⚫ Message 11001 Example
Input 1 1 0 0 1 0 0

0/00 0/00 0/00 0/00 0/00 0/00 0/00

a=00

b=10

c=01

d=11
1/10 1/10 1/10
Level j=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

11 01 01 11 11 10 11

Output

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Simulation of Convolution Encoding

[21]
 Maximum Likelihood Decoding of
Convolutional codes
⚫ m denotes a message vector
⚫ c denotes the corresponding code vector
⚫ r denotes the received vector
⚫ With a given r , decoder is required to make estimate m̂ of
message vector, equivalently produce an estimate ĉ of the
code vector
⚫ mˆ = m only if cˆ = c otherwise, a decoding error happens
⚫ Decoding rule is said to be optimum when the propability of
decoding error is minimized
⚫ The maximum likelihood decoder or decision rule is
described as follows:
– Choose the estimate ĉ for which the log-likelihood
function logp(r/c) is maximum
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 Maximum Likelihood Decoding of
Convolutional codes

⚫ Binary symmetric channel: both c and r are binary

sequences of length N
N
p (r | c) =  p (ri | ci )
i =1
N
 log p(r | c) =  log p(ri | ci )
i =1

 p if ri  ci
with p(ri | ci ) = 
1 − p if ri = ci

⚫ r differs from c in d positions, or d is the Hamming

distance between r and c
 log p(r | c) = d log p + ( N − d ) log(1 − p)
 p 
= d log  + N log(1 − p)
1− p 
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 Maximum Likelihood Decoding of
Convolutional codes

⚫ Decoding rule is restated as follows:

– Choose the estimate ĉ that minimizes the Hamming
distance between the received vector r and the
transmitted vector c
⚫ The received vector r is compared with each
possible code vector c, and the one closest to r is
chosen as the correct transmitted code vector

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 The Viterbi algorithm
⚫ Choose a path in the trellis whose coded sequence differs from
the received sequence in the fewest number of positions
⚫ The algorithm operates by computing a metric for every
possible path in the trellis
⚫ Metric is Hamming distance between coded sequence
represented by that path and received sequence
⚫ For each node, two paths enter the node, the lower metric is
survived. The other is discarded
⚫ Computation is repeated every level j in the range K-1 jL
⚫ Number of survivors at each level 2K-1=4

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 The Viterbi algorithm
c=(11,01,01,11,11,10,11), r=(11,00,01,11,10,10,11)
Input 11 00 01 11 10 10 11

0/00 2 0/00
2 0/00
3 2 0/00 4 1 0/00 4 2 0/00
3 0/00 5
a=00
2

0 4 32 32 24
b=10

1
c=01 6 43 25 25
1

1 4
d=11 3
1/10 4 3 1/10 4 3 1/10
Code 11 01 01 11 11 10 11 26
Output 1 1 0 0 1 0 0

Faculty of Electronics & Telecommunications. HCMUS [26]

Simulation of Convolution Decoding

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