Coded modulation

So far:
Binary coding
Binary modulation
Will send R information bits/symbol (spectral efficiency = R)
Constant transmission rate: Requires bandwidth expansion by a
factor 1/R
Until 1976:
Coding not useful for spectral effiencies 1
Coding gain achieved at the expense of bandwidth expansion
Quantum leap: Coded modulation
Trellis coded modulation (TCM)
Block coded modulation (BCM)
Turbo coded modulation
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Coded modulation: What is it?

Concatenation of an error correcting code (convolutional
code, block code, turbo code) and a signal constellation
Groups of coded bits are mapped into points in the signal
constellation in a way that enhances the distance properties
of the code
Thus, a codeword can be seen as a vector of signal points
Decode, ideally, to the codeword which is closest to the
received vector in terms of squared Euclidean distance
(assuming an AWGN channel)

Coded modulation: Fair comparisons

Gain of coding?
Reference system:
Uncoded information mapped, k bits at a time, into
signal constellation with 2k different signal points, and
with average signal energy Es
Reference spectral efficiency is k
Typical scheme with coded modulation:
Rate k/(k+1) error correcting code. Coded bits are
mapped, k+1 bits at a time, into signal constellation
with 2k+1 different signal points, and scaled down so that
the average signal energy is Es
Spectral efficiency is k
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Coded modulation: Constellations

Coded modulation: Energy per symbol

Assume in all cases that the minimum Euclidean distance

between two points is 2
2-AM: Es = 2(+1)2 /2 = 1
4-AM: Es = 2((+1)2 + (+3)2)/4 = 5
8-AM: Es = 2((+1)2 + (+3)2 + (+5)2 + (+7)2)/8 = 21

QAM: Energy per symbol

Assume in all cases that the minimum Euclidean distance

between two points is 2
4-QAM: Es = 4((+1)2 + (+1)2)/4 = 2
8-CROSS: Es = 4(((+1)2 + (+1)2) + ((0)2 + (+3)2))/8 = 5.5
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Coded modulation: Energy per symbol

Symbol error probability

Uncoded modulation (QPSK):
Ps 2Q((Es/N0)1/2) + Q((2Es/N0)1/2) 2Q((Es/N0)
1/2
)
Uncoded modulation (general constellation):

-dmin2/4N0

Ps AminQ((d /2N0) ) (Amin/ 2) e

Amin = number of nearest neighbour points
dmin2 = minimum squared Euclidean distance
(MSE) between signal points (= 2Es for QPSK)
Coded modulation:
-dfree2/4N0
Pe (Adfree/ 2) e

2
min

1/2

Asymptotic coding gain

Now, the uncoded reference system and the coded system have the
same spectral efficiency
Asymptotic coding gain = (dfree:coded2 / Ecoded)/(dmin:uncoded2 / Euncoded)

= (Euncoded / Ecoded ) (dfree:coded2 / dmin:uncoded2)

= c-1 d
= (constellation expansion factor)-1 distance gain factor

But what is dfree:coded?

Binary modulation: dfree:coded is proportional to the free Hamming
distance of the code. Hence, design for Hamming distance
Nonbinary modulation: dfree:coded depends on the code as well as on the
mapping from code bits to points in the signal constellation
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Average and minimum Euclidean WE

Constellation with 2k+1 points
Let e {0,1}k+1, v s (v is label of s), and v = (v e) s
For each e, there are 2k+1 pairs (v,v) of this type. The
distance v2(e) between s and s varies over the set of pairs
{(v,v)}
For a specified constellation and for each error vector e, the
average Euclidean WE (AEWE) is
v2(e)
2
-k-1
e (X) = 2 v X
For a specified constellation and for each error vector e, the
minimum Euclidean WE (MEWE) is
minv v2(e)
2
e (X) = X
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Computing the WEFs

Use the error trellis
Mason's gain formula on the modified error state diagram
w(e)
with the branch labels X
can be used to compute the
Hamming WEF
The same algorithm applied to the modified error state
diagram with branch labels e2(X) can compute the minimum
free squared Euclidean (MFSE) distance of the system,
provided the code-bit-to-signal mapping is uniform
The same algorithm applied to the modified error state
diagram with branch labels e2(X) can compute the average
weight enumerating function of the system, provided the
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code-bit-to-signal mapping is uniform

Uniform mapping
Split the signal constellation in two subsets, Q(0) and Q(1)
such that Q(i) consists of points with a label v with v(0) = i
Let e,i2(X) be the AEWE for e with respect to Q(i)
A 1-1 mapping f: v s is uniform iff. e,02(X) = e,12(X) e

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Uniform mapping: Example

Q(0) and Q(1) isomorphic. One can

be obtained from the other by
isometric mapping. Necessary for
the existence of a uniform mapping
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Nonuniform mapping: Example

No isometry
between Q(0)
and Q(1)

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Nonuniform mapping: Example

Q(0) and Q(1) isomorphic. One can
be obtained from the other by
isometric mapping. Necessary but not
sufficient for the existence of a
uniform mapping

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Uniform mapping
Lemma: Consider a (k+1,k) binary convolutional code
whose output is blockwisely and uniformly mapped to a 2k+1ary signal constellation. Then, for each binary error sequence
e(D) in the error trellis, there exists a pair of sequences y(D)
and y(D) such that l vl2(el) = l 2(el), where the
summation is over the blocks where y(D) and y(D) differ
Proof: Follows because the mapping is uniform
Thus, the MFSE distance can be computed by a modified
Viterbi algorithm on the error trellis, with the MEWEs as
edge labels
By similar reasoning, the average WEF can be computed by
using a modified error state diagram with the AEWEs as16
edge labels

Two commonly used mappings

Gray mapping:
The labels of two adjacent signal points will differ in only
one position
Used for uncoded modulation. Also used in coded
modulation, as it is distance preserving in some cases, for
example for QPSK
Natural mapping:
Signal points are labeled in ascending order (integerwise)
Used for applications which need to be robust against carrier
phase errors
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Examples: QPSK (min = 2)

2

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Using the error trellis to compute distance

7.2

2.4

10

2.4

7.2

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Example: R = 2/3 with 8-PSK

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Example: R = 2/3 with 8-PSK

1.76
But uncoded QPSK has min2 = 2...

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Example: R = 1/2 with 8-PSK

Parallel
4.0
branches

1.76
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Example: R = 1/2 with 8-PSK

Be
st
po
ssi
ble

4.59
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Initial rules for design of coded modulation

MSE distance between parallel branches should be

maximized
Branches in the modified error trellis leaving and entering the
same state should have the largest possible MSE distance
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On uniform and nonuniform mappings

For nonuniform mappings:
Calculations on the error trellis will provide only a lower
bound on the minimum distance (Example 18.5)
More difficult to analyze (but the system as such may be
as good as or better than one using a uniform mapping)
Stricter condition: Geometric uniform (GU) mappings
Even easier to analyze
Most systems are not GU

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