Apparatus and method for decision error compensation in an adaptive equalizer

An adaptive equalizer with decision error compensation, comprising:

• a forward equalizer (FE), receiving a symbol stream to generate an FE output;
• a decision feedback equalizer (DFE), receiving a decision symbol stream to generate a DFE output, wherein the decision symbol stream is an estimation of the symbol stream;
• a first adder, adding the FE and DFE outputs to generate an equalizer output;
• a first trellis decoder, receiving the equalizer output to generate a trellis decoded stream by a trellis decoding process;
• and
• a compensator for compensating the equalizer output according to the decision symbol stream, the trellis decoded stream, and a coefficient vector stored in the decision feedback equalizer, to generate a compensated equalizer output, wherein the compensator comprises:
• a first delay unit, receiving the equalizer output and delaying the equalizer output for a time m;
• a second delay unit, receiving the decision symbol stream and delaying the decision symbol stream for the time m;
• a comparator, generating an error signal by comparing the trellis decoded stream and the delayed decision symbol stream;
• an FIR array, generating a summation from the multiplication of the coefficient vector and the error signal;
• and
• a second adder, adding the delayed equalizer output and the summation to generate the compensated equalizer output.