Doppler frequency shift estimation for differentially coherent CPM

A communication scheme based on continuous-phase modulated (CPM) signals used in conjunction with trellis-coded modulation (TCM) is considered. To keep the complexity manageable, a detection scheme based on differential detection of CPM signals is used. Methods that estimate the Doppler-induced frequency shift from the receiver signal are studied. Since differential detection transforms a frequency shift into a phase shift, the phase estimation problem is examined first. Three Doppler frequency estimation schemes that are based on open-loop structures and that are designed to achieve different ranges of Doppler frequencies that can be estimated are introduced. These estimators show different degrees of complexity and (at least for high signal-to-noise ratios) significantly different estimation errors. Their performance is compared by using a simulation approach