Area-Efficient Architectures for the Viterbi Algorithm—Part II: Applications

In the previous paper, we established the theoretical foundations of a new class of area-efficient architectures for the Viterbi algorithm. In this paper, we will show area-efficient architectures for practical codes to illustrate the design procedures and demonstrate the favorable area-time tradeoff results. Three examples from convolutional codes, matched-spectral-null (MSN) trellis codes, and Ungerboeck codes will be presented. We will also discuss the application of our area-efficient techniques to codes with a very large numbers of states, codes with time-varying trellises, and a programmable Viterbi decoder. © 1993 IEEE.