The effects of delay spread on 2-PSK, 4-PSK, 8-PSK and 16-QAM in a portable radio environment

Computer simulation results are presented of a study of delay spread on digital modulations with different constellations in a quasi-static multipath radio channel. Unfiltered 2-, 4-, and 8-PSK and 16-QAM with a rectangular signaling pulse are compared first, followed by 4- and 16-QAM with a raised-cosine Nyquist pulse. The bit error rate performances averaged over fading samples under the influence of the intersymbol interference caused by delay spread are compared for modulations of different levels. It is found that 4-level modulation is the most desired method for both performance and implementation in a quasistatic, frequency-selective fading radio channel. Both the spectral and the power efficiencies can be enhanced using Nyquist signaling pulses.<
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