Why did convolution coding achieve BER less than Reed-Solomon?

1. What is convolution code How is it different from block codes?
2. What are the advantages of convolutional code?
3. How many bits can Reed Solomon correct?
4. Which method is used most for convolutional decoding?

What is convolution code How is it different from block codes?

Convolutional coding is a widely used coding method which is not based on blocks of bits but rather the output code bits are determined by logic operations on the present bit in a stream and a small number of previous bits.

What are the advantages of convolutional code?

Convolution coding is a popular error-correcting coding method used in digital communications. The convolution operation encodes some redundant information into the transmitted signal, thereby improving the data capacity of the channel.

How many bits can Reed Solomon correct?

The standard (255, 223) Reed-Solomon code is capable of correcting up to 16 Reed-Solomon symbol errors in each codeword. Since each symbol is actually eight bits, this means that the code can correct up to 16 short bursts of error due to the inner convolutional decoder.

Which method is used most for convolutional decoding?

The Viterbi algorithm is the most resource-consuming, but it does the maximum likelihood decoding. It is most often used for decoding convolutional codes with constraint lengths k≤3, but values up to k=15 are used in practice.