A noncoherent GMSK receiver for software radio

A noncoherent GMSK receiver suitable for software radio is proposed. It is an I/Q structured receiver with a joint symbol timing error and frequency offset estimator based on discrimination and FFT calculation through a specified preamble. A matched filter suitable for this type of noncoherent GMSK receiver is investigated and differential detection is used to recovery the original data. Finally, bit error rate (BER) performances are offered via computer simulation. Compared with the optimal coherent receiver, the proposed receiver is significant due to its smaller implementation complexity. It also has a better performance and is more suitable to implement on common software radio platforms compared with typical noncoherent receivers.