Viterbi decoder is widely used for decoding of convolutional codes. The Viterbi algorithm is used in communication and data storage applications. Viterbi decoder is an inevitable module which determines the overall power consumption of TCM decoders. An efficient low-power Viterbi decoder using dual port memory is designed here pre-computation architecture using Talgorithm can reduce the power consumption without reducing the decoding speed. Dual ported RAM is used for improving the memory efficiency. Dual ported RAM (DPRAM) is a type of random access memory that allows multiple reads or writes to occur at the same time or nearly the same time, unlike single ported RAM which only allows one access at a time. A comparison of conventional VD parameters and VD designed using DPRAM shows the reduction in area and power consumption as well as in increase in speed too.

Keywords : VD, TCM, DPRAM, Convolutional codes.