Mobile digital communications via tone calibration

A new digital signaling technique that is particularly suited for channels impaired by multipath fading is presented. The proposed modulation scheme employs a continuous-wave (CW) tone to calibrate the mobile channel against the multipath-induced phase uncertainties. This technique is applicable to quaternary phase shift keying as well as to more complicated signal constellations such as M-ary phase shift keyed schemes. The advantages of tone calibration are: 1) robustness of the receiver and 2) elimination of the link dependent error floor. Furthermore, since the CW tone can also be used for coherent signal demodulation, carrier phase acquisition can be achieved within a bit time. This property is particularly attractive when a burst of data with a short burst length has to be detected. This radio technique is useful for both the terrestrial mobile and the newer satellite-aided mobile communication (SAMC) services.