An Improved and Reliable Sequential Decoding of Convolution Codes

Abstract

Error control (detection and correction) of data plays a pivotal role in networking to facilitate the reliable transmission of messages from source to destination. Convolution code is one of the popularly known error control mechanism which is considered superior to several legacy error control algorithms like the Hamming code. The Fano algorithm is a sequential decoding algorithm used to decode long constraint length convolution codes. However, this algorithm has failed to offer 100% error detection and correction capabilities. These lead to the inferior performance of this algorithm to correct errors at the destination. This paper proposes an enhanced Fano (e-Fano) algorithm that offers 100% error detection and correction up to finite bits of error. Through the MATLAB simulations, e-Fano and the conventional Fano algorithm are compared for the % of error detection and correction in the received data. © 2020 IEEE.