Career
He pioneered the use of soft bits (see Soft output Viterbi algorithm), a coding theory technique that contributes to the high performance of the turbo codes. Professor Hagenauer"s work enabled the advancement of turbo coding and led to a significant improvement in channel coding for digital communications and storage. Hagenauer received his doctorate in 1974 from Darmstadt University of Technology where he also served as an assistant professor
In 1990 he was appointed a director of the Institute for Communication Technology at the German Aerospace Center Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt in Oberpfaffenhofen.
In 1993 he became the Chair of the University of Technology"s Communications Technology department in Munich, Germany.
