Convolutional codes are used in digital communication systems to correct errors that occur during transmission. Their use is now commonplace, particularly in power-limited satellite and deep space communication systems. Before the decoder can correctly decode the received continuous bit sequence, however, it must establish where codewords begin and end in this sequence. The process of determining codeword boundaries is called node synchronization.
In this paper we develop a node synchronization algorithm based on metric di!erence values with the objectives of simple implementation and reliable performance. Focusing on satellite applications, we consider the constraint length 7, rate convolutional code standardized by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA); the approach we develop can be extended to other convolutional coding systems. Through simulation, we investigate the statistics of the received sequence, and highlight correlation in the sequence of the decoder metric values. In the light of these observations, we propose a synchronization algorithm, and develop a "rst-order analysis of this simple up/down counter framing technique. We recommend framing parameters based on both the analytical results and the expected response of the framing algorithm to correlated metric values. Development of a simple node synchronization algorithm that accommodates correlated metric values has not been reported previously in the literature. Simulation results con"rm that reliable node synchronization is possible with this very simple approach.