Multiple trellis coded modulation (MTCM)

The authors demonstrate a trellis coded modulation technique referred to as multiple trellis coded modulation (MTCM) wherein more than one channel symbol per trellis branch is transmitted. They have found simple two-state trellis codes for symmetric MPSK multiple phase-shift keying and AM modulations that can achieve 3-dB gain over uncoded modulation at very high signal-to-noise ratios without bandwidth expansion or reduction in information bit rate. The gain of these codes with respect to previously reported two-state trellis codes is between 1 and 2 dB at very high signal-to-noise ratios, depending on the number of bits per Hertz transmitted. These gains are achieved for those of the equivalent conventional trellis codes with the same number of states in the trellis diagram. The authors note that additional computations per branch are needed for the multiple trellis coding scheme. The concept can be extended to a higher number of states and other types of modulations