Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Costello, D. J., Jr..
Error detection incorporated with automatic-repeat-request (ARQ) is widely used for error control in data communication systems. This method of error control is simple and provides high system reliability. If a properly chosen code is used for error detection, virtually error-free data transmission can be attained. Various types of ARQ and hybrid ARQ schemes, and error detection using linear block codes are surveyed.
The best asymptotic bounds presently known on free distance for convolutional codes are presented from a unified point of view. Upper and lower bounds for both time-varying and fixed codes are obtained. A comparison is made between bounds for nonsystematic and systematic codes which shows that more free distance is available with nonsystematic codes. This result is important when selecting codes for use with sequential or maximum-likelihood (Viterbi) decoding since the probability of decoding error is closely related to the free distance of the code. An ancillary result, used in proving the lower bound on free distance for time-varying nonsystematic codes, furnishes a generalization of two earlier bounds on the definite decoding minimum distance of convolutional codes.
Study of certain polynomials with the 'weight-retaining' property that any linear combination of these polynomials with coefficients in a general finite field has Hamming weight at least as great as that of the minimum-degree polynomial included. This fundamental property is used in applications to Reed-Muller codes, a new class of 'repeated-root' binary cyclic codes, two new classes of binary convolutional codes derived from binary cyclic codes, and two new classes of binary convolutional codes derived from Reed-Solomon codes.
Description of a class of rate 1/2 nonsystematic convolutional codes with the following desirable properties: (1) an undetected decoding error probability verified by simulation to be much smaller than for the best systematic codes of the same constraint length; (2) computation behavior with sequential decoding verified by simulation to be virtually identical to that of the best systematic codes; (3) a ?quick-look-in' feature that permits recovery of the information sequence from the hard-decisioned received data without decoding simply by modulo-two addition of the received sequences; and (4) suitability for encoding by simple circuitry requiring less hardware than encoders for the best systematic codes of the same constraint length. Theoretical analyses are given. These codes have been adopted for use in several forthcoming space missions.
Binary periodic convolutional codes with lower bound everywhere stronger than Wagner on definite decoding minimum distance
Algorithm for constructing random error correcting convolutional codes
Convolutional encoding and sequential decoding of digital data for reliable transmission
Algorithm for constructing random error correcting convolutional codes