Convolutional coding combined with continuous phase modulation

Background theory and specific coding designs for combined coding/modulation schemes utilizing convolutional codes and continuous-phase modulation (CPM) are presented. In this paper the case of r = 1/2 coding onto a 4-ary CPM is emphasized, with short-constraint length codes presented for continuous-phase FSK, double-raised-cosine, and triple-raised-cosine modulation. Coding buys several decibels of coding gain over the Gaussian channel, with an attendant increase of bandwidth. Performance comparisons in the power-bandwidth tradeoff with other approaches are made.