Efficient Amplification and Detection of Multilevel SC-FDE Signals Based on BPSK Components

Multilevel modulations have good spectral efficiency, although at the expense of power efficiency. In mobile wireless systems, where there are strict power and bandwidth constrains, we must maximize the power efficiency. This means the use of high-efficiency amplification schemes at the transmitter side and compact constellations combined with powerful equalizers at the receiver side. In this paper we consider SC-FDE schemes (Single-Carrier with Frequency-Domain Equalization) combined with multilevel constellations that can be decomposed as the sum of BPSK (Binary Shift Keying) signals. These components can be separately amplified and besides this decomposition allows the definition of new efficient IB-DFE (Iterative Block Decision Feedback Equalization) implementations suitable for multilevel constellations, with low impact on system complexity.