Analysis and implementation of an adjustable-rate multilevel coded modulation system

The authors describe the design of a multilevel coded modulation system. The main goal is to achieve a high degree of rate flexibility, with the same hardware allowing for the implementation of several coded schemes. This is obtained by associating a hierarchy of punctured convolutional codes with the partition chain of a square-lattice signal constellation. Discussing the rationale behind their choices and implementation details, the authors analyse the system by computing its error probabilities, and show experimental results