On the phase error distribution of an open loop phase estimator

An investigation was conducted of the performance of a simple open loop carrier phase estimator for the case of an unmodulated sinusoid. The channel models considered are additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) and Rayleigh fading. The authors calculate the phase variance at the output of the phase estimator when the signal itself is a complex Gaussian process. This situation occurs if a signal is transmitted over a Rayleigh fading channel which is in terms of error rate performance the worst time-selective channel and therefore a useful bound for mobile radio applications.<>