A Signal Constellation for Pilotless Communications Over Wiener Phase Noise Channels

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel pilotless signal constellation designed for satellite communication channels with Wiener phase noise, aiming to improve data rates by eliminating the need for pilot symbols and providing analysis tools for their performance.

Contribution

The paper proposes a new signal constellation that does not require pilot symbols and offers a method to analyze its performance under iterative decoding.

Findings

Constellation avoids the need for pilot symbols.

Provides a performance analysis framework.

Applicable to channels with Wiener phase noise.

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.