Coded 16-CPFSK for downlink applications

A bandwidth-efficient constant-envelope Proof-of-Concept (POC) modem is described. The modem was developed on an Advanced Modulation Techniques Development contract for the NASA/Lewis Research Center. The POC modem employs 16-ary Continuous Phase Frequency Shift Keying (16-CPFSK) modulation. The 16 frequencies are spaced every 1/16th baud rate which produces a compact spectrum allowing 2 bits/sec/Hz operation. The modem is designed for 200 mb/s Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) application with 100 MHz adjacent channel spacing. Overall rate 3.4 convolutional coding is incorporated. The demodulator differs significantly from typical quadrature phase detector approaches in that phase is coherently measured by processing the baseband output of a frequency discriminator. Baud rate phase samples for the baseband processor are subsequently decoded to yield the original data stream. The method of encoding onto the 16-ary symbol-ending phase nodes, together with convolutional coding gain, results in near Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) theoretical performance. The modulated signal is of constant envelope; thus the power amplifier can be saturated for peak performance. The spectrum is inherently bandlimited and requires no RF filter for sidelobe containment. Two novel theoretical techniques are used in this 16-CPFSK modem: (1) coherent phase measurements are obtained by processing an FM discriminator baseband output; and (2) modulation is accomplished via a closed-loop-linearized voltage controlled oscillator (VCO).