An Intuitive Justification and a Simplified Implementation of the MAP Decoder for Convolutional Codes

An intuitive shortcut to understanding the maximum a posteriori (MAP) decoder is presented based on an approximation. This is shown to correspond to a dual-maxima computation combined with forward and backward recursions of Viterbi algorithm computations. The logarithmic version of the MAP algorithm can similarly be reduced to the same form by applying the same approximation. Conversely, if a correction term is added to the approximation, the exact MAP algorithm is recovered. It is also shown how the MAP decoder memory can be drastically reduced at the cost of a modest increase in processing speed.