Abstract:
A dual mode radio communication unit (102, 104) for a digital communication system is provided having an error controller including an error detection encoder (111) and a forward error correction encoder (112) which encode an input information signal into an error protected data bit stream. In addition, the communication unit includes a mode selector which enables either the error detection encoder or the forward error correction encoder used with a particular mode of operation of the communication unit. Further, a corresponding dual mode radio communication unit is provided having an error controller for generating estimated information signal samples according to a group of algorithms consisting of either an error detection algorithm (261) or an error correction algorithm (202). In addition, the corresponding communication unit includes a mode selector (141) for receiving a signal according to a particular one of the group of algorithms which is associated with a particular mode of operation of the corresponding communication unit.