Pilot-Symbol Assisted and Code-Aided Phase Error Estimation for High-Order QAM Transmission

In this paper, we present a novel phase error estimation scheme for low-density parity-check (LDPC) coded high-order quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) transmission systems, and we provide a theoretical analysis of its performance. The scheme uses known pilot symbols which are assumed to be placed at equally spaced positions, and phase errors occurred at these pilot symbol positions are first estimated. They are then interpolated over the other positions by using a Wiener filter (WF), and estimation accuracy is next refined by using an LDPC code-aided phase-locked loop (PLL). We present an efficient implementation of this two-stage, Pilot-Symbol-Assisted and Code-Aided (PSA/CA) scheme and evaluate its performance by means of power spectrum analysis. We determine the mean square error at each step of the PSA/CA scheme, and we find an optimal value of the noise equivalent loop bandwidth of the PLL under the assumption that local oscillator phase noise can be modeled as a single-pole single-zero model. We show through simulations that the PSA/CA scheme has a very high phase noise tolerance comparable to that of state-of-the-art phase estimation schemes and provides a computationally efficient alternative.