The analysis of phase noise degradation in a coded communication link

A simulation approach for assessing coded system performance in the presence of phase noise with and without interleaving is described. A simulation was constructed to model a realistic satellite channel, including all significant distortions. Block error results from the simulations were analyzed to determine system bit error rate as a function of the energy per bit to noise power spectral density ratio. Sources of link degradations included intersymbol interference, nonlinear amplification, and filter distortion, as well as phase noise. Simulation results indicate that data interleaving can significantly improve communication system performance. An analytic approach that gives performance degradation results in close agreement with simulation results is discussed. This analysis combined with simulation results can yield a close approximation of system performance.<>