Rate 1/n convolutional codes with interleaving depth of n over a block fading Rician channel

Rate 1/n convolutional codes with interleaving depth of n are analysed in a frequency non-selective block fading Rician channel. The channel is assumed to be constant during the transmission of a block and independent from block to block. A generalised transfer function, T(D/sub 1/,...,D/sub n/,N), is used for calculation of union transfer function upper bounds on the average bit and block error probabilities. Numerical results indicate that the bounds are relatively tight (1-3 dB) and clearly show that at most a diversity order of n is achieved. The component distance product is shown to be an important parameter for code design.