A low-complexity high-performance noncoherent receiver for GFSK signals

This paper presents an efficient algorithm for noncoherent demodulation of Gaussian frequency shift keying (GFSK) signals when the receiver is operating in a decision-feedback mode to aid the current symbol demodulation based on the previous decision bits. Enlightened by the data-aided noncoherent demodulation of DPSK signal, the maximum likelihood (ML) noncoherent receiver for GFSK signals is derived. The proposed algorithm adopts a recursive structure that significantly reduces the computational cost compared with the standard ML methods. The simulation results show that the proposed method achieves comparable bit-error-rate (BER) performance with the matched filter band (MFB) receiver using an observation period of 7 bits, but with two orders of magnitude lower computation complexity.