Design of trellis decoders for block-coded modulation schemes

Block-coded modulation (BCM) combines bandwidth-efficient modulation techniques with error-correction capabilities to allow efficient data transmission over mobile communication channels. The main shortcoming of BCM is the complex decoding process for which, until today, mainly suboptimum decoding methods are used, because existing approaches for trellis decoders are limited to a small subset of possible BCM schemes. The authors address this shortcoming by introducing a new technique for the construction of trellis decoders for arbitrary BCM schemes. This technique is based on a new approach for the calculation of the trellis state vector and a computationally efficient recursive method for the construction of the trellis. A large number of simulation results for BCM schemes with various QAM constellations are presented, and comparisons in terms of performance and decoding complexity allow the formulation of guidelines for the choice of efficient coding schemes