Impact of non-Gaussian impulsive noise on the performance of high-level QAM

The impact of non-Gaussian impulse noise (Middleton's class A noise) combined with Gaussian thermal noise on the performance of high-level QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) (e.g., 16, 64, and 256 QAM) systems is analyzed. The P(e) (probability of error) performance of the system is evaluated in terms of CNR (carrier-to-noise ratio), impulsive index (A) of the noise, and power ratio of the Gaussian noise to the impulsive noise ( Gamma '). It is shown that, in the high-level QAM, non-Gaussian impulsive noise degrades the system performance significantly, even at high CNR. It is also found that an upper bound on the error probability exists for Gamma '>