For conventional cyclic-prefix (CP)-assisted block transmission systems, the CP length is selected on the basis of the expected maximum delay spread. With regard to single-carrier (SC)-based block transmission implementations, a full-length CP is recommendable, since it allows good performances through the use of simple frequency-domain equalization (FDE) techniques. In this letter, a soft-decision-directed correction (SDDC)-aided turbo FDE technique is presented for reduced-CP SC-based block transmission systems using conventional frame structures. The relations with some already known iterative FDE techniques are established, and a set of performance results is reported and discussed. The advantages of the proposed approach are emphasized, namely, the possibility of approximately achieving (besides the obvious bandwidth efficiency gain) the maximum power efficiency gain that a strong CP reduction allows.

For conventional cyclic prefix (CP)-assisted single-carrier/frequency-domain equalization (SC/FDE) implementations, as well as for orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) implementations, the CP length is known to be selected on the basis of the expected maximum delay spread. Next, the data block size can be chosen to be large enough to minimize the CP overhead, yet small enough to make the channel variation over the block negligible. This paper considers the possibility of reducing the overall CP assistance, when transmitting sequences of SC blocks, while avoiding an excessively long fast Fourier transform window for FDE purposes and keeping good FDE performances through low-complexity, noniterative receiver techniques. These techniques, which take advantage of specially designed frame structures, rely on a basic algorithm for decision-directed correction (DDC) of the FDE inputs when the CP is not long enough to cope with the time-dispersive channel effects. More specifically, we present and evaluate a novel class of reduced-CP SC/FDE schemes, which takes advantage of a special frame structure for replacing “useless” CP redundancy by fully useful channel coding redundancy, with the help of the DDC algorithm. When using the DDC-FDE technique with these especially designed frame structures, the impact of previous decisions, which are not error-free, is shown to be rather small, thereby allowing a power-efficiency advantage (in addition to the obvious bandwidth-efficiency advantage) over conventional block transmission implementations under full-length CP. Additionally, the DDC algorithm is also shown to be useful to improve the power efficiency of these conventional implementations.

For conventional CP-assisted (Cyclic Prefix) SC/FDE implementations (Single- Carrier/Frequency-Domain Equalization), as well as for OFDM implementations (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing), the CP length is known to be selected on the basis of the expected maximum delay spread. Next, the data block size can be chosen to be large enough to minimize the CP overhead, yet small enough to make the channel variation over the block negligible. This paper considers the possibility of reducing the overall CP assistance, when transmitting sequences of SC blocks, while avoiding an excessively long FFT block for FDE purposes and keeping good performances through a moderate increase of the FDE receiver complexity. Firstly, we present an algorithm for a Decision-Directed Correction (DDC) of the FDE inputs when the CP is not long enough to cope with the time-dispersive channel effects. The resulting FDE performance is then evaluated in worst-case (CP-free) conditions, and the impact of previous decisions which are not error-free is shown to be rather small. In the following, we present and evaluate a novel class of reduced-CP SC/FDE schemes, which takes advantage of the DDC algorithm for replacing "useless" CP redundancy by fully useful channel coding redundancy: highly power/bandwidth efficient block transmission schemes, especially recommendable for both strongly time-dispersive and time-varying channel conditions, are then achieved.

This paper is concerned with the use of frequency-domain equalization (FDE) and space diversity within block transmission schemes for broadband wireless communications. The expected performance with both multicarrier (MC) and single-carrier (SC) modulations is emphasized, when a cyclic prefix, long enough to cope with the maximum relative channel delay, is appended to each transmitted block. A set of numerical results is presented and discussed, with the help of appropriate, analytical performance bounds which are conditional on a given channel realization. These bounds are used to explain the performance advantage of the SC/FDE option, the benefits of space diversity, and the impact of the criterion for computing the FDE parameters.

Offset quaternary PSK-type (OQPSK) digital modulation schemes are often recommended for radio transmission systems employing grossly nonlinear amplifiers, and have found widespread use in land mobile and/or satellite communications. Most of the recommended OQPSK-type schemes-also called MSK-type schemes-jointly exhibit the following features: a constant envelope or, at least, a low envelope fluctuation; a compact spectrum after a power-efficient, saturated amplifier, and a high detection efficiency obtained with simple, low-cost receivers. We introduce a novel approach to computer-aided modeling of OQPSK-type digital transmission over nonlinear radio channels. By taking into account the specific nature of OQPSK-type modulations, when using the Volterra approach as proposed by Benedetto et al. (1987), we conclude that two signal representations ("parallel" and "serial") can be achieved which are similar to the conventional Laurent (1986) representation of binary CPM signals with h=1/2. With the proposed approach, the OQPSK-type signals have an invariant structure along the transmission path (which is supposed to include, at least, one nonlinearity) in the sense that they are all made of several linear components of the same type. Some examples are given, including signal representation and power spectrum results. The proposed unified signal representations can be very useful for design and performance evaluation of radio communication systems (mobile and/or satellite applications). They combine flexibility, accuracy, and simplicity, and allow high computational efficiencies.

In this paper we show that the rate of convergence of a blind equalization algorithm depends strongly on the type of correction term used. The work is mainly concerned with algorithms needing no hard decisions at the equalizer output. Simulation results are reported which show a significant improvement with respect to Sato's algorithm [1].