An advanced architecture of a TCM decoder for the ATV standard

This paper discusses the development of a Viterbi decoder for the trellis code. The decoder must operate properly at both modes-16 state mode and 8 state mode-depending on the channel conditions. In the development of the decoder, the most significant problem is the silicon area. This paper presents decoding skills which can reduce the area. It also presents an architecture which can operate for both modes without any additional overhead. It shows a complete analysis for a partial response channel and an optimal channel. It also shows simulation results which can be used to determine specific hardware (H/W) parameters for VLSI implementation. It presents a complete hardware architecture of a TCM decoder. In the design of each part, area-saving skills are used. Since the GA (Grand Alliance) terrestrial mode adopts 12 parallel TCM encoding scheme, we need 12 parallel TCM decoders in a receiver in a common configuration. A H/W architecture is presented in which the components are shared by 12 trellis decoders.