Automatic Modulation Classification for MIMO Systems Using Fourth-Order Cumulants

Automatic classification of the modulation type of an unknown communication signal is a challenging task, with applications in both commercial and military contexts, such as spectrum surveillance, cognitive radio, and electronic warfare systems. Most of the automatic modulation classification (AMC) algorithms found in the literature assume that the signal of interest has been transmitted using a single antenna. In this paper, a novel AMC algorithm for multiple input multiple output (MIMO) signals is proposed, which employs fourth-order cumulants as features for classification. First, perfect channel state information (CSI) is assumed. Subsequently, a case of more practical relevance is considered, where the channel matrix is unknown and has to be estimated blindly by employing independent component analysis (ICA). The performance of the proposed classification algorithm is investigated through simulations and compared with an average likelihood ratio test (ALRT) which can be considered as optimum in the Bayesian sense, but has a very high computational complexity.