Fully adaptive MLSE equalizer performance with MPSK signals

This paper analyzes a fully adaptive MLSE equalizer in fast fading channel conditions. The receiver requires no channel state information, and even adapts to learn the channel fading statistics. The equalizer is analyzed using pairwise error probabilities to derive lower bounds on performance for MPSK signals. Simulation studies confirm that the analytic bounds are close to the true performance. A new decision delay adaption rule is proposed, based on the bit error rate analysis. With this new rule, the fully adaptive MLSE equalizer is shown to outperform existing fixed-delay equalizers when channel statistics are unknown.