Hardware implementation of Kuiper-based modulation level classification

A modulation level classifier based on the reduced complexity Kuiper test is implemented on the BEE2 hardware prototyping platform and its performance is evaluated. In particular, the classification accuracy of the proposed classifier in distinguishing among 4, 16, and 64-QAM is analyzed under varying SNR, varying number of symbols, and different timing offsets. The performance of the proposed classifier is compared to that of the widely-used Cumulant-based classifier. Possible architectures are proposed, and their classification accuracy and computational complexity are compared. The proposed method achieves a probability of correct classification of 93% using 512 symbols at an SNR of 14dB as compared to an accuracy of 73% for the Cumulants method. The two classifiers have comparable hardware utilizations.