Concatenated multilevel block coded modulation

Encoding and decoding schemes for concatenated multilevel block codes are presented. By one of these structures, a real coding gain of 5.6-7.4 dB for the bit error range of 10^-6 to 10^-9 is achieved for transmission through the additive white Gaussian noise channel. Also, a rather large asymptotic coding gain is obtained. The new coding schemes have very low decoding complexity and increased coding gain in comparison with the conventional block and trellis coded modulation structures. A few design rules for concatenated (single and) multilevel block codes with large coding gain are also provided