Effectiveness of Convolutional Code in Multipath Underwater Acoustic Channel

Abstract

The forward error correction (FEC) is achieved by increasing redundancy of information. Convolutional coding with Viterbi decoding is a typical FEC technique in channel corrupted by additive white gaussian noise. But the FEC effectiveness of convolutional code is questioned in multipath frequency selective fading channel. In this paper, how convolutional code works in multipath channel in underwater, is examined. Bit error rates (BER) with and without 1/2 convolutional code are analyzed based on channel bandwidth which is frequency selectivity parameter. It is found that convolution code performance is well matched in non selective channel and also effective in selective channel.