# Viterbi decoder on a bit stream where the preamble is also coded

I hope this is not off-topic for this site.

In my problem, Viterbi decoder is used for decoding convolutional-coded (rate = 1/2, constraint length = 7) messages.

A message is 250 bits where the first 8 bits are 1/3 of a preamble. There are several types of messages. A message is received as 500 bits because of the coding, which means, the preamble is also coded.

Since there is no place marker other than the coded preamble, I am in trouble with finding the first bit of the 500 bits to start decoding.

I would really appreciate any suggestions and comments.

-
I assume the preamble is known a priori (or it wouldn't be of much use). Is the encoder state at the beginning of a message known? If so, then the coded version of the preamble should be known ahead of time. Thus, you could correlate your received signal against the coded preamble to estimate packet synchronization. – Jason R Dec 31 '12 at 14:51
@Jason R Yes, the preamble is known. I am not sure if I get what you say; I only know that these 250 bit messages (of various types where the first 8 bits are preambles) are encoded with the encoder I've mentioned. I should process the signal in space (such as GPS signal). If I can obtain a decoded version, I can find the preamble by correlating. I have no idea what the coded preamble is since there are many types of messages using the same preamble. As far as I know, encoding the same 8 bits give different 16 bits because of the various following 242 bits. – groove Jan 2 '13 at 0:15
Is the convolutional code recursive or feedforward? If it isn't recursive, then the bits that follow the preamble may not have any effect on the encoder output for the preamble bits themselves (although it could depend upon the code rate). If you have knowledge of the exact structure of the encoder, that can help you. – Jason R Jan 2 '13 at 0:57
It is not recursive. The polynomials are octal 133 and 171. – groove Jan 2 '13 at 7:23