Systems and methods for dual list decoding of convolutional codes

A receiver for reconstructing a sequence of message bits from a sequence of noisy received encoded symbols, comprising:

• a full decoder capable of receiving the sequence of noisy received encoded symbols and outputting a reconstructed sequence of message bits, where the full decoder further comprises:
• a first partial decoder capable of processing a first subset of the sequence of noisy received encoded symbols to produce a first set of partial codewords that each correspond to a possible sequence of message bits using a first convolutional code and a first expurgating linear function, where the first subset of the sequence of noisy received encoded symbols corresponds to symbols of a first partial codeword;
• and
• a second partial decoder capable of processing a second subset of the sequence of noisy received encoded symbols to produce a second set of partial codewords that each correspond to a possible sequence of message bits using a second convolutional code and a second expurgating linear function, where the second subset of the sequence of received noisy encoded symbols corresponds to symbols of a second partial codeword, and the first and second subsets of the sequence of noisy received encoded symbols are distinct;
• wherein the full decoder is further capable of reconstructing a sequence of message bits using the first set of partial codewords and the second set of partial codewords.