A Study of Joint Equalization and TCM Decoding with Multiple Decoding Depths

Joint equalization and TCM decoding scheme with multiple decoding depths is proposed for ATSC DTV systems, which reduces error propagation and improves the performance. The additional device is the decoding output unit with the complexity slightly higher than that with decoding depth of 1. With the channel profiles described in this paper, convergence threshold is decreased by 6 dB when using the decoding output with decoding depth of 1 instead of hard decision as feedback data. Another 3 dB is reduced with decoding depth of 6. Thus 9 dB in total is reduced compared with hard decision.