Optimal Decoding of Linear Codes for Minimizing Symbol Error Rate

Abstract

The general problem of estimating the a posteriori probabilities of the states and transitions of a Markov source observed through a discrete memoryless channel is considered. The decoding of linear block and convolutional codes to minimize symbol error probability is shown to be a special case of this problem. An optimal decoding algorithm is derived. © 1974, IEEE. All rights reserved.