ABSTRACT
Error correction codes are widely used in almost all digital systems as they provide a method for dealing with the unknown, noise. This research has investigated the performance of error correction codes in wireless communication systems with the use of MATLAB. The error correction code employed was the convolution error correction codes. The performance of the codes were evaluated based on key performance indicators like gain, Bit Error Rate (BER) e.t.c. by transmitting randomly generated data through a Gaussian channel. For the verification of proposed approach, computer simulation results are included. The results showed a comparison of the performance of the convolution codes (with different code rates) in terms of their BER performance. Based on the results of the plots, up to 70% and 74% improvement on coding gains were achieved between reference points of 10 -2 and 10 -4 respectively for the two code rates (1/2 and 1/3) used. The results also showed that with the BER decreased, the coded system can transmit data signals with at least 3dB less power thus making the performance of the coded system better than the uncoded system.