Mathematically, the operation of combining two functions, w and f, to produce a third function, g, such that
(or the corresponding continuous operation). This is envisaged as a transformation of an input function
f to an output function
g, by viewing
f through a fixed window
w.
In coding theory, f is considered as a signal and w as the response of a linear channel; g is then the effect upon that signal (regarded as a sequence of successive elements) brought about by the time response of the linear channel. The channel time response is the sequence of successive elements output by the channel in response to a signal that has one element of unit amplitude and all other elements zero. The input signal sequence and the channel time response are said to be convolved.
The inverse process is deconvolution: the convolved output sequence can be deconvolved with the channel time response sequence to restore the original input signal sequence.
It is important, both mathematically and practically, that the convolution of discrete-time signals corresponds to the conventional multiplication of polynomials.
See also feedback register, feed-forward register.