Hybrid block-convolutional rate-½ coding strategy for constant envelope (CE)Q2PSK

The authors address the problem of trellis coding on multidimensional signal space for incorporation into a 4D quadrature-quadrature phase-shift keying (Q²PSK) communication system. A low-complexity rate-½ hybrid block-convolutional coding scheme is proposed, to be utilised in a constant envelope (CE)Q²PSK system configuration. The encoder and decoder designs have been structured to facilitate simple implementation with standard components. The bit error rate performance of the proposed coding scheme is studied by means of simulation on a non-frequency selective Rician fading channel assuming coherent detection. The benefits of the use of channel state information (CSI) in conjunction with maximum-likelihood Viterbi decoding are also considered