zRate-compatible convolutional codes for multirate DS-CDMA systems

New rate-compatible convolutional (RCC) codes with high constraint lengths and a wide range of code rates are presented. These new codes originate from rate 1/4 optimum distance spectrum (ODS) convolutional parent encoders with constraint lengths 7-10. Low rate encoders (rates 1/5 down to 1/10) are found by a nested search,and high rate encoders (rates above 1/4) are found by rate-compatible puncturing. The new codes form rate-compatible code families more powerful and flexible than those previously presented. It is shown that these codes are almost as good as the existing optimum convolutional codes of the same rates. The effects of varying the design parameters of the rate-compatible punctured convolutional (RCPC) codes, i.e., the parent encoder rate, the puncturing period, and the constraint length, are also examined. The new codes are then applied to a multicode direct-sequence code-division multiple-access (DS-CDMA) system and are shown to provide good performance and rate-matching capabilities. The results, which are evaluated in terms of the efficiency for Gaussian and Ray-leigh fading channels, show that the system efficiency increases with decreasing code rate.