Encoding/decoding system using 16-QAM modulation encoded in multi-level blocks

摘要

The invention provides a block-encoded modulation scheme using multi-level partitioning techniques. This scheme is made transparent to phase ambiguities of ±&pgr;/2 and of &pgr;, by means of differential encoding and appropriate mapping, it is applicable to 16-QAM modulation, and it has theoretical encoding gain that is optimal for the rate of the code. The decoder associated with this scheme uses the Wagner algorithm which is much less complicated to implement than the Viterbi algorithm or than the Reed-Solomon algorithm.