Iterative joint channel estimation and detection of coded CPM

The serial concatenation of continuous phase modulations and convolutional codes has proven to perform well at low SNR when iteratively detected. The iterative detection algorithm assumes that the channel state is known at the receiver end. In this paper, the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm is used as an alternative to pilot symbol aided channel estimation. The EM channel estimation is associated with the iterative detection and requires no increase in decoding complexity.