Block coded modulation on the Rician fading channel

The author investigates the performance of block coded modulation schemes on the Rician fading channel using the MPSK (Mary phase shift keying) and FPM (frequency/phase modulation) signal sets. The analysis leads to the formulation of design criteria essential for the selection of "good" codes on the Rician channel. It is shown that the length of the shortest error event path and the product of branch distances on that path dominate the performance on severe fading channels. In channels with a strong specular component, the minimum squared distance of the code becomes a significant design criterion as well. It is also shown that the value of the shortest error event path is directly related to the Hamming distance of the block codes comprising the encoding section. The validity of the design criteria for the fading channel is demonstrated by simulations