Block coded modulation and concatenated coding schemes for error control on fading channels

Block coded modulation (BCM) for digital communication over fading channels is considered. The performance of some known BCM codes designed for Gaussian channels is evaluated on slow Rayleigh fading channels. Design criteria for fading channels are used to construct new BCM codes with improved error rate. To achieve high coding gains with acceptable complexity, concatenated codes with BCM inner codes are investigated. The performance gains that are achieved by concatenated BCM schemes relative to uncoded reference systems are illustrated via some examples. Also, a comparison with corresponding schemes based on trellis coded modulation (TCM) is presented. Both analytical and simulation approaches are used to estimate the error rate performance.