Maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimation of Differentially Encoded PSK Signals Transmitted over Rayleigh Frequency-Flat Fading Channels

The problem of maximum likelihood (ML) detection of differentially encoded M-PSK signals on Rayleigh fading channels is investigated. It is shown that the solution to this problem can be easily related to previous results [1] and leads to the implementation of a receiver structure based on the Viterbi algorithm and employing per-survivor processing. The error rate performance of this receiver is evaluated by computer simulations for both coded and uncoded systems