Soft Viterbi Decoding

J = 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
’0’ ’1’
0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0
bi s1 s2 bi bp s1 s2
bi s1 s2 bp 00
next 00 00
z }| {
bi , s1 , s2 11
| {z }
current 01
01 01
Given the received bits sequence, 10
we use Viterbi decoding to retrieve 01
the original information bits.
10 10
I Hard decoding
10
I Soft decoding
00
Below example assumes all zero in- 11 11
11
put sequence.

Dr Rong ZHANG (Soton) ELEC3203: DCT October 10, 2014 1/3

 ’0’
SD ’1’ J=1J=2J=3J=4J=5J=6J=7J=8

00 0 00 5 00 6 11 18 23 25 29
00 2 3 4

11 11 01 01 01
-1 -2
01 2 5
01 01
00 00
10 0 -5

10 10
-8
11 1 11 0 11 -5
(10) (00) (01) (00) (00) (00) (00) (00)
Received 3,-3 -2,-3 -2,1 -3,-2 -3,-4 -2,-3 -1,-1 -2,-2
Decoded 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Soft Symbol: The soft received symbols are expressed in finer quanti-
zation level {−4, −3, · · · , +3, +4}, i.e. +4/ − 4 indicates the highest
possibility of being ’1’ or ’0’.

Dr Rong ZHANG (Soton) ELEC3203: DCT October 10, 2014 2/3

 ’0’
SD ’1’ J=1J=2J=3J=4J=5J=6J=7J=8

00 0 00 5 00 6 11 18 23 25 29
00 2 3 4

11 11 01 01 01
-1 -2
01 2 5
01 01
00 00
10 0 -5

10 10
-8
11 1 11 0 11 -5
(10) (00) (01) (00) (00) (00) (00) (00)
Received 3,-3 -2,-3 -2,1 -3,-2 -3,-4 -2,-3 -1,-1 -2,-2
Decoded 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Branch Metric: At J = 1, the soft received symbol is ’3,-3’, which

means the first (second) bit would be ’1’ (’0’) with confidence level of
3 (3).

Dr Rong ZHANG (Soton) ELEC3203: DCT October 10, 2014 2/3

 ’0’
SD ’1’ J=1J=2J=3J=4J=5J=6J=7J=8

00 0 00 5 00 6 11 18 23 25 29
00 2 3 4

11 11 01 01 01
-1 -2
01 2 5
01 01
00 00
10 0 -5

10 10
-8
11 1 11 0 11 -5
(10) (00) (01) (00) (00) (00) (00) (00)
Received 3,-3 -2,-3 -2,1 -3,-2 -3,-4 -2,-3 -1,-1 -2,-2
Decoded 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

I input ’0’, output ’00’, thus the first (second) bit would get −3
(+3) points, with the sum being 0 points → γ00−00 (1) = 0.
I input ’1’, output ’11’, thus the first (second) bit would get +3
(−3) points, with the sum being 0 points → γ00−10 (1) = 0.
Dr Rong ZHANG (Soton) ELEC3203: DCT October 10, 2014 2/3
 ’0’
SD ’1’ J=1J=2J=3J=4J=5J=6J=7J=8

00 0 00 5 00 6 11 18 23 25 29
00 2 3 4

11 11 01 01 01
-1 -2
01 2 5
01 01
00 00
10 0 -5

10 10
-8
11 1 11 0 11 -5
(10) (00) (01) (00) (00) (00) (00) (00)
Received 3,-3 -2,-3 -2,1 -3,-2 -3,-4 -2,-3 -1,-1 -2,-2
Decoded 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Path Metric: At J = 2, the received symbol is ’-2,-3’, which means the

first (second) bit would be ’0’ (’0’) with confidence level of 2 (3).

Dr Rong ZHANG (Soton) ELEC3203: DCT October 10, 2014 2/3

 ’0’
SD ’1’ J=1J=2J=3J=4J=5J=6J=7J=8

00 0 00 5 00 6 11 18 23 25 29
00 2 3 4

11 11 01 01 01
-1 -2
01 2 5
01 01
00 00
10 0 -5

10 10
-8
11 1 11 0 11 -5
(10) (00) (01) (00) (00) (00) (00) (00)
Received 3,-3 -2,-3 -2,1 -3,-2 -3,-4 -2,-3 -1,-1 -2,-2
Decoded 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

I γ00−00 (2) = +5 → Γ00 (2) = γ00−00 (1) + γ00−00 (2) = +5.

I γ00−10 (2) = −5 → Γ10 (2) = γ00−10 (2) + γ00−10 (2) = −5.
I similarly, we have Γ01 (2) = −1 and Γ11 (2) = +1.
Dr Rong ZHANG (Soton) ELEC3203: DCT October 10, 2014 2/3
 ’0’
SD ’1’ J=1J=2J=3J=4J=5J=6J=7J=8

00 0 00 5 00 6 11 18 23 25 29
00 2 3 4

11 11 01 01 01
-1 -2
01 2 5
01 01
00 00
10 0 -5

10 10
-8
11 1 11 0 11 -5
(10) (00) (01) (00) (00) (00) (00) (00)
Received 3,-3 -2,-3 -2,1 -3,-2 -3,-4 -2,-3 -1,-1 -2,-2
Decoded 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Merging Path: At J = 3, when two paths merge, the one with higher
path metric is survived or a random choice if two path metrics are the
same.

Dr Rong ZHANG (Soton) ELEC3203: DCT October 10, 2014 2/3

 ’0’
SD ’1’ J=1J=2J=3J=4J=5J=6J=7J=8

00 0 00 5 00 6 11 18 23 25 29
00 2 3 4

11 11 01 01 01
-1 -2
01 2 5
01 01
00 00
10 0 -5

10 10
-8
11 1 11 0 11 -5
(10) (00) (01) (00) (00) (00) (00) (00)
Received 3,-3 -2,-3 -2,1 -3,-2 -3,-4 -2,-3 -1,-1 -2,-2
Decoded 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

I state ’00’, path A: input {0, 0, 0} and ΓA00 (3) = +6; path B: input
{1, 0, 0} and ΓB00 (3) = +2 → Γ00 (3) = ΓA00 (3) = +6.
I why Γ01 (3) = +2 and Γ11 (3) = 0 ? could you determine Γ10 (3) ?
Dr Rong ZHANG (Soton) ELEC3203: DCT October 10, 2014 2/3
 ’0’
SD ’1’ J=1J=2J=3J=4J=5J=6J=7J=8

00 0 00 5 00 6 11 18 23 25 29
00 2 3 4

11 11 01 01 01
-1 -2
01 2 5
01 01
00 00
10 0 -5

10 10
-8
11 1 11 0 11 -5
(10) (00) (01) (00) (00) (00) (00) (00)
Received 3,-3 -2,-3 -2,1 -3,-2 -3,-4 -2,-3 -1,-1 -2,-2
Decoded 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Final Decision: the soft decoding procedure is similar to that of

the hard decoding except that the highest path metric amongst
[Γ00 (8), Γ01 (8), Γ10 (8), Γ11 (8)] is selected.

Dr Rong ZHANG (Soton) ELEC3203: DCT October 10, 2014 2/3

Appendix A
’0’
’1’ J=1 J=2 J=3 J=4 J=5 J=6 J=7 J=8

00 0 00 5 00 6 00 11 00 18 00 23 00 25 00 29
00 2 3 4 9 7 13
11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11

-1
01 -2
01 01 01 01 01
5 0 5 13 21
01 2 5 10 7 9 17
10 10 10 10 10 10

0
01 -5
01 4
01 1
01 4
01 13
01 21
01 21
10 -4 1 6 11 7 13
10 10 10 10 10 10 10

00 00 00 00 00 00
1 -8 3 2 7 13 21
11 0 -5 -4 -3 5 9
11 11 11 11 11 11

Received 3,-3 -2,-3 -2,1 -3,-2 -3,-4 -2,-3 -1,-1 -2,-2

Decoded 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Figure: Full trellis of error-free soft Viterbi decoding. Assume all zero was
transmitted.

Dr Rong ZHANG (Soton) ELEC3203: DCT October 10, 2014 3/3