On the performance of iterative noncoherent detection of coded M-PSK signals

Differential encoding is often used in conjunction with noncoherent demodulation to overcome carrier phase synchronization problems in communication systems employing M-ary phase-shift keying (M-PSK). It is generally acknowledged that differential encoding leads to a degradation in performance over absolutely encoded M-PSK systems with perfect carrier synchronization. In this paper, we show that when differential encoding is combined with convolutional encoding and interleaving, this degradation does not necessarily occur. We propose a novel noncoherent receiver for differentially encoded M-PSK signals that is capable of significantly outperforming optimal coherent receivers for absolutely encoded M-PSK using the same convolutional code. This receiver uses an iterative decoding technique and is based on a multiple differential detector structure to overcome the effect of the carrier phase error. In addition, to better illustrate the benefits of the powerful combination of convolutional encoding, interleaving, and differential encoding, we also present an iterative coherent receiver for differentially encoded M-PSK.