Performance Analysis and Constellation Optimization of Star-QAM-Aided Differential Faster-Than-Nyquist Signaling

In this letter, motivated by the recent differential faster-than-Nyquist (DFTN) signaling concept, we propose an improved 16-point double-ring star quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM)-aided DFTN signaling transmission, which allows us to attain a higher bandwidth efficiency as well as a simple receiver based on noncoherent detection. We derive an analytical error-rate bound for the proposed star-QAM DFTN signaling in an uncoded scenario. The derived bound is used for optimizing the star-QAM constellation for our DFTN signaling in terms of error-rate performance in an uncoded scenario. Our simulation results demonstrate that the proposed star-QAM DFTN scheme outperforms its conventional phase-shift-keying-based DFTN counterpart.