Noncoherent Detection Based on Markov Chain Monte Carlo Methods for Block Fading Channels

Abstract — In this work we study joint channel decoding and noncoherent detection for block fading channels. We propose a novel, low-complexity noncoherent detection method based on Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). The MCMC noncoherent detector makes it possible to use large constellations such as 16 QAM and transmit at higher rates of 1 or 1.6 bits/channel use. By employing joint channel decoding and noncoherent detection, the proposed schemes achieve within 1.2-1.4 dB of the noncoherent channel capacity. Moreover, for the same transmission rates, the proposed single transmit antenna system performs 4-6 dB better than published results of the two transmit antenna systems that employ unitary space-time codes or orthogonal space-time codes. I