A Signal Constellation for Pilotless Communications Over Wiener Phase Noise Channels

Abstract

Many satellite communication systems operating today employ low cost upconverters or downconverters which create phase noise. This noise can severely limit the information rate of the system and pose a serious challenge for the detection systems. Moreover, simple solutions for phase noise tracking such as PLL either require low phase noise or otherwise require many pilot symbols which reduce the effective data rate. In order to increase the effective information rate, we propose a signal constellation which does not require pilots, at all, in order to converge in the decoding process. In this contribution, we will present a signal constellation which does not require pilot sequences, but we require a signal that does not present rotational symmetry. For example a simple MPSK cannot be used.Moreover, we will provide a method to analyze the proposed constellations and provide a figure of merit for their performance when iterative decoding algorithms are used.