Design of memory efficient Viterbi Decoder Design using Traceback scheme

Project done by: Remya Martin.

Under supervision of: Mr L.Ramasethu Assistant Professor/ECE

OBJECTIVE
Main objective of my work is to design a high-speed,low-

power Viterbi Decoder for Trellis Coded Modulation(TCM) systems We are modifying the register exchange method used in current system with the traceback method.

OVERVIEW
Power reduction in VDs could be achieved by reducing the

number of states using reduced-state sequence decoding (RSSD),but it is not efficient.

M-algorithm requires a sorting process in the feedback

loop.

PROPOSED TECHNIQUE
The pre-computation architecture incorporated with T-

algorithm for VD, which can effectively reduce the power consumption without degrading the decoding speed much.
T-algorithm calculates the optimal PM by using

TRACEBACK method.

A VITERBI DECODER
A viterbi decoder uses the Viterbi algorithm for

decoding a bitstream that has been encoded using Forward error correction based on a code. There are other algorithms for decoding a convolutionally encoded stream (for example, the Fano algorithm). Viterbi Decoder is also a parameterizable high performance IP core that performs decoding of the convolutionally encoded data as well as punctured codes.

Functional Diagram

BRANCH METRIC UNIT-A branch metric unit's function is to calculate the hamming distance.

PATH METRIC UNIT:

The PMU accumulates the distances of the single codeword metrics produced by the BMU for every state.

Add-Compare-Select Unit (ACSU)

The two adders compute the partial path metric of

each branch, the comparator compares the two partial metrics, and the selector selects an appropriate branch.

REGISTER EXCHANGE METHOD

The register-exchange approach assigns a register to

each state. The register records the decoded output sequence along the path starting from the initial state to the final state, which is same as the initial state. The approach may offer a high-speed operation, but it is not power efficient due to the need to copy all the registers in a stage to the next stage.

 The register-exchange approach assigns a register to

each state. The register records the decoded output sequence along the path starting from the initial state tothe final state, which is same as the initial state. The approach may offer a high speed operation, but it is not power efficient due to the need to copy all the registers in a stage to the next stage

TRACE BACK METHOD

Traceback records the survivor branch of each state.
It is possible to Traceback the survivor path provided

the survivor branch of each state is known.

A flip-flop is assigned to each state to store the

survivor branch and the flip-flop records 1 (0) if the survivor branch is the upper (lower) path.

 The traceback method stores the decisions from the

ACS into a RAM. Later, the decisions are read out.

The best path is determined by reading backwards

through the ram, and tracing a path backwards through the trellis.
This reads the bits out in backwards order.

TRACE BACK UNIT

IMPLEMENTATION TOOLS
VHDL
MODEL SIM XILINX

SCREEN SHOTS- ACS Unit Output

SCREEN SHOTS- BMU Unit Output

SCREEN SHOTS- SMU Unit Output

SCREEN SHOTS- RE Unit Output

REFERENCE
[1] High-Speed Low-Power Viterbi Decoder Design for TCM Decoders Jinjin He, Huaping Liu, Zhongfeng Wang, Xinming Huang, and Kai Zhang IEEE Trans. Very Large Scale Integr. (VLSI) Syst., vol. 15, no. 11, pp. 11721176 January 19, 2011. [2] J. B. Anderson and E. Offer, Reduced-state sequence detection with convolutional codes, IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, vol. 40,no. 3,pp. 965-972,May 2008. [3] C. F. Lin and J. B. Anderson, M-algorithm decoding of channel convolutional codes, presented at the Princeton Conf. Info. Sci. Syst.,Princeton, NJ, Mar. 2006. [4] F. Chan and D. Haccoun, Adaptive viterbi decoding of convolutional codes over memoryless channels, IEEE Trans. Commun., vol. 45,no. 11,pp. 1386-1400,Nov 2006. [5] S. J. Simmons, Breadth-first trellis decoding with adaptive effort,IEEE Trans. Commun.,vol. 38, no. 1,pp. 3-12, Jan.2004. [6]Bandwidth-efficientmodulations, Consultive Committee For Space Data System,Matera,Italy,CCSDS 401(3.3.6)Green Book,Issue 1,Apr. 2003.