A Viterbi-type algorithm for efficient estimation of M-PSK sequences over the Gaussian channel with unknown carrier phase

A Viterbi-type algorithm for the efficient estimation of a convolutionally/trellis coded, or uncoded M-PSK sequence over the Gaussian channel with unknown carrier phase is presented. It performs coherent detection of M-PSK sequences with no explicit recovery of coherent references. The metric computations involve only linear operations. Theoretical and simulated performance results are presented for various carrier phase processes. The algorithm is called the suboptimum ML estimator (SMLE). Its BER in the presence of a time invariant carrier phase is obtained analytically. The simulation results for the BER with time-invariant as well as time-varying carrier phase processes allow a comparison of the performance of the SMLE with other sequence estimation algorithms, and enable the applicability of the SMLE to burst mode TDMA communications to be ascertained