Iterative decoding of rate adaptive multilevel coded modulation for mobile satellite communication

In this paper, rate adaptive forward error correction systems for land mobile satellite communication are studied. For link performance evaluation, a simplified L-band land mobile satellite three state communication channel is introduced. A code rate adaptive system using multilevel coded modulation schemes with iterative decoding is presented. A new cost function based on the E/sub b//N/sub 0/ is given for performance evaluation of such systems. Based on this cost function, we show that rate adaptive systems can achieve extra coding gains between 3.9 dB and 9.0 dB.