Partially systematic rate-compatible punctured SCCCs

In this letter, we propose and compare some new rate-compatible serially concatenated convolutional code (SCCC) families. To obtain them, inner coded bits only are punctured. However, and this is the novelty proposed in the letter, the puncturing is not limited to inner parity bits, but extended also to inner systematic bits, thus obtaining high rate SCCCs (i.e., beyond the outer code rate). The two main applications of this technique are its use in hybrid Automatic-Repeat-reQuest/Forward-Error Correction (ARQ/FEC) schemes and to achieve unequal error protection (UEP) of an information sequence.