Vector Symbol Decoding for Wireless Fading Channels

Error correcting codes have been widely used to ensure reliable data communications. Nowadays, wireless communications have become very popular thanks to their portability and mobility features. However, they also have problems of burst errors due to fading and the quality of the channel may vary quickly between good and bad. This book presents a decoding technique, called vector symbol decoding (VSD), which is powerful in correcting long burst errors. By using large nonbinary symbols, correcting a few error symbols is equal to correcting a long burst of error bits. By applying VSD to convolutional codes, it can decode after receiving only a small part of received symbols without the use of interleaving. This book covers its theory, concept, algorithm, decoding steps, performance comparison with Reed-Solomon codes and some implementation approaches for preliminary lab prototype on FPGA board. This book is for graduate students and researchers that have some background on error correcting codes and are interested in new ideas and approaches.