Low-complexity error selective Viterbi decoder

The authors present a low-complexity convolutional decoding scheme the error selective Viterbi decoder (ESVD) which improves the trellis code search of a conventional Viterbi decoder (VD). Use of the ESVD leads to a significant computational savings under typical channel conditions owing to the isolation of erroneous data stretches and the decoding (only) of the error sequence through a simplified VD search. The effectiveness of multi-bit ESVD schemes is verified for different encoders and data quantisations using Monte Carlo simulations