Design of efficient coding and modulation for a Rayleigh fading channel

The design of a coding/modulation structure for digital communications over a Rayleigh fading channel, the structure of the corresponding decoder, and the error rate performance of the resulting system are considered. Emphasis is on the use of constant weight codes for constructing equal energy waveforms for transmission over the channel. The performance gains that are achieved by the integrated coding/modulation approach relative to conventional methods for obtaining diversity are illustrated via some examples. Of special interest is the use of a concatenated coding technique for forming codes of large distance and hence high diversity. A new decoding algorithm is applied to enable efficient decoding of the concatenated code. An example is included that shows a performance increase of several dB resulting from concatenation.