Performance of rate selective punctured convolutional codes of equal code length

A family of (PC) codes of rate v/N is presented, where N is constant and even and v can be varied between N/2 and (N-1). These PC codes are called rate selective punctured convolutional codes of equal code length (RSPC codes). From best known rate 1/2 codes, a set of good RSPC codes of rates 7/12 to 11/12 having memory 2<=M<=6 have been derived, and the maximum free distance d_f and minimum information weight C(d_f) of these RSPC codes are provided. The RSPC coding/Viterbi decoding scheme with soft decision has been simulated. The obtained bit error rate (BER) performances with rates 7/12 to 11/12 for a Gaussian channel are provided