Forward error correction for software defined radio based on FPGA

Abstract

In digital communication, the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the channel is one of the major limitations on the operating performance. Solution in terms of coded data and errorcorrecting code has been introduced to improve the performance. Forward error correction technique with Convolution encoding and Viterbi decoding has been introduced here for this purpose. A Convolution encoder and Viterbi decoder of code rate 1/2, constraint length (K) of 7, 8 & 9 has been designed using Verilog HDL and incorporated with our application Software defined radio using black box in MATLAB Simulink. It is important to improve the performance and reduce the power and area of the decoder. In this project, Viterbi decoder adopted the Process Element (PE) technique which made it easy to adjust the throughput of the decoder by increasing or decreasing the number of PE. By the method of Same Address Write Back (SAWB), the number of registers reduced to half in contrast with the method of ping-pong.