A state space approach to periodic convolutional codes

Abstract

In this paper we study periodically time-varying convolutional codes by means of input-state-output representations. Using these representations we investigate under which conditions a given time-invariant convolutional code can be transformed into an equivalent periodic time-varying one. The relation between these two classes of convolutional codes is studied for period 2. We illustrate the ideas presented in this paper by constructing a periodic time-varying convolutional code from a time-invariant one. The resulting periodic code has larger free distance than any time-invariant convolutional code with equivalent parameters.