Joint decoding and carrier phase estimation for trellis code modulation

A TCM demodulator is developed which simultaneously decodes the received TCM and compensates for receiver phase error. This procedure, called per survivor decoding, uses a data-aided estimation technique for phase error correction, embedded in the Viterbi decoder structure. The per survivor estimation procedure is developed for a homogenous Markov diffusion phase error process model. Performance estimates for the per survivor demodulator are presented for several trellis codes. Start-up transient performance of the per survivor algorithm is also discussed.