Blind equalization algorithms for dual-mode CAP-QAM reception

We propose a dual-mode receiver capable of blindly demodulating both carrierless amplitude modulation/phase modulation (CAP) and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) line codes. Our work is motivated by some emerging broad-band access standards which require a receiver that can first blindly start up, then blindly distinguish between CAP and QAM, and finally decode the signal. The "brute force" solution to this problem would be to implement CAP and QAM receivers in parallel. However, we propose a single novel receiver based on a single equalizer that accommodates both line codes, yielding significant computational savings. We describe the receiver architecture, blind start-up methods, and line code identification algorithms, as well as computer simulations and a laboratory experiment to verify the theoretical receiver behavior.