Coded modulation for digital communications over Rayleigh fading channels

A signal-design method based on the integration of coding and modulation, noncoherent demodulation, and soft-decision decoding is described. The integrated coding/modulation approach provides robust signal designs for digital communications over rapidly fading channels that may be encountered in medium- and long-range, horizontal-path acoustic telemetry. The structure of the corresponding demodulator/decoder is described, and the error rate performance of the resulting system is evaluated for Rayleigh fading signal statistics. Of special interest is the use of concatenated coding for forming codes of large distance, and an example is given using dual-k codes. The performance gains that are achieved by the integrated coded modulation approach relative to conventional uncoded signal designs are also illustrated