A mixed MAP/MLSE receiver for convolutional coded signals transmitted over a fading channel

This paper addresses the problem of estimating a rapidly fading convolutionally coded signal such as might be found in a wireless telephony or data network. We model both the channel gain and the convolutionally coded signal as Markov processes and, thus, the noisy received signal as a hidden Markov process (HMP). Two now-classical methods for estimating finite-state hidden Markov processes are the Viterbi (1967) algorithm and the a posteriori probability (APP) filter. A hybrid recursive estimation procedure is derived whereby one hidden process (the encoder state in our application) is estimated using a Viterbi-type (i.e., sequence based) cost and the other (the fading process) using an APP-based cost such as maximum a posteriori probability. The paper presents the new algorithm as applied specifically to this problem but also formulates the problem in a more general setting. The algorithm is derived in this general setting using reference probability methods. Using simulations, performance of the optimal scheme is compared with a number of suboptimal techniques-decision-directed Kalman and HMP predictors and Kalman filter and HMP filter per-survivor processing techniques.