Viterbi decoding

Viterbi decoding is an efficient algorithm used in telecommunication to correct errors in transmitted data. Channel encoders add redundant bits to a signal to help the receiver detect and correct errors caused by noise. Convolutional encoding, a type of forward error control (FEC), incorporates memory into the encoding process, meaning previous bits influence the current output. This creates a stream of bits rather than distinct blocks. Viterbi decoding is often used to process this stream at the receiver, determining the most likely transmitted sequence by comparing the received bits to possible encoder outputs. The more memory an encoder has, the better its error-correcting performance, but this also increases the complexity of the decoding algorithm.12