5 OPTIMUM RECEIVERS FOR THE ADDITIVE WHITE GAUSSIAN NOISE CHANNEL In Chapter 4, we described various types of modulation methods that may be used to transmit digital information through a communication channel. As we have observed, the modulator at the transmitter performs the function of mapping the digital sequence into signal waveforms. This chapter deals with the design and performance characteristics of optimum receivers for the various modulation methods, when the channel corrupts the transmitted signal by the addition of gaussian noise. In Section 5-1, we first treat memoryless modulation signals, followed by modulation signals with memory. We evaluate the probability of error of the various modulation methods in Section 5-2. We treat the optimum receiver for CPM signals and its performance in Section 5-3, In Section 5-4, we derive the optimum receiver when the carrier phase of the signals is unknown at the receiver and is treated as a random variable. Finally, in Section 5-5, we consider the use of regenerative repeaters in signal transmission and carry out a link budget analysis for radio channels. 5-1 OPTIMUM RECEIVER FOR SIGNALS CORRUPTED BY ADDITIVE WHITE GAUSSIAN NOISE Let us begin by developing a mathematical model for the signal at the input to the receiver. We assume that the transmitter sends digital information by use of M signal waveforms {s,,(t), m = I, 2,...,M}. Each waveform is transmitted within the symbol (signaling) interval of duration T: To be specific, we consider the transmission of information over the interval 0<1<7. 233FIGURE $1-1 234 ovcrraL communications ‘Chanel Trained pod sew! —t — ep erie Model for received signal passed throvgh an Nove AWGN channel, me The channel is assumed to corrupt the signal by the addition of white ‘gaussian noise, as illustrated in Fig. 5-1-1. Thus, the received signal in the interval 0<1< T may be expressed as HO=s(O +n), 00ST (1-1) where n(?) denotes a sample function of the additive white gaussian noise (AWGN) process with power spectral density @,,(f) = 4Ny W/Hz. Based on the observation of r() over the,signal interval, we wish to design a receiver that is optimum in the sense that it minimizes the probability of making an error. It is convenient to subdivide the receiver into two parts—the signal demodulator and the detector—as shown in Fig. 5-1-2. The function of the signal demodulator is to convert the received waveform r(r) into an N- dimensional vector r=[r, r... tw], where N is the dimension of the transmitted signal waveforms. The function of the detector is to decide which of the M possible signal waveforms was transmitted based of the vector F. ‘Two realizations of the signal demodulator are described in the next two sections. One is based on the use of signal correlators. The second is based on the use of matched filters. The optimum detector that follows the signal demodulator is designed to minimize the probability of error. 5-1-1 Correlation Demodulator FIGURE $1.2 In this section, we describe a correlation demodulator that decomposes the received signal and the noise into N-dimensional vectors. In other words, the signal and the noise are expanded into a series of linearly weighted orthonormal basis functions {f,(¢)}. It is assumed that the N basis functions {G(0} span the signal space, so that every one of the possible transmitted Receiver configuration, Received [Sit = up Siem 10 | demodutior e desisonCHAPTER 5. OPTIMUM RECEIVERS FOR THE ADDITIVE WHITE GAUSSIAN NOKE CHANNEL 235, signals of the set {5,(t), 1 << M} can be represented as a weighted linear combination of {f,(1)}. In the case of the noise, the functions {f,(:)} do not span the noise space. However, we show below that the noise terms that fall outside al space are irrelevant to the detection of the signal. Suppose the received signal r(1) is passed through a parallel bank of N crosscorrelators which basically compute the projection of r(t) onto the N basis functions {f,(t)}, as illustrated in Fig. 5-1-3. Thus, we have [ronma=["oato*manninde co = Smat My K=L 2.00, where r m= ff Sm(OKM dK =1,2,...50 7 (5-1-3) me=[ "monde, K=120,N The signal is now represented by the vector 5, with components Spe, k=1,2,...,N. Their values depend on which of the M signals was trans- mitted. The components {rx} are random variables that arise from the presence of the additive noise. In fact, we can express the received signal r{¢) in the interval 0<1< Tas r= 3 Sma (+ mahi) +O) =Snkorno G14) ‘The term n'(i), defined as nOA=nW)~ B nfl (15) is a zero-mean gaussian noise process that represents the difference between the original noise process (1) and the part corresponding to the projection of ‘n()) onto the basis, functions {f,(1)}. We. shall show below that n’(r) is irrelevant to the decision as to which signal was transmitted. Consequently, the decision may be based entirely on the correlator output signal and noise components fy = Sng + Mee K=1,2,...5N. Since the signals {5,(¢)} are deterministic, the signal components are deterministic. The noise components {ng} are gaussian. Their mean values are El) = [" smonina=0 (5-1-6)