Iterative data detection and channel estimation for space-time block coded continuous phase modulation over flat fading channels

The problem of iterative data detection and channel estimation for space-time block coded continuous phase modulation (CPM) signals over quasi-static flat fading channels is studied in this study. Firstly, the combination of space-time block code with CPM is not as straightforward as with linear modulation schemes, because of the requirement of phase continuity and the associated inherent memory of CPM. Therefore a novel block construction method is proposed to insert a tail sequence into each block for ensuring the phase continuity. Secondly, at the receiver the expectation-maximisation algorithm is applied to channel estimation and the estimated channel information is used to evaluate a posteriori probability for data detection. The channel estimation and data detection work iteratively. Simulation results show that the spectral efficiency of transmission is improved by the proposed block construction method and that the proposed iterative receiver outperforms its non-iterative counterpart significantly.