Carrier Synchronization of Offset Quadrature Phase-Shift Keying

This article contains analyses of the performance of various carrier synchronization loops for offset quadrature phase-shift-keying (OQPSK) modulation, all motivated in one form or another by the maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation of carrier phase. When they are implemented as either high or low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) approximations to the generic implementation suggested by the MAP estimation of carrier phase for an OQPSK signal, it is shown that the loops behave more like biphase than quadriphase loops in that they only exhibit a 180-deg phase ambiguity rather than the 90-deg phase ambiguity typical of the latter. This phase ambiguity advantage coupled with the mean-square tracking-error performance advantage that results and its ultimate effect on average error probability performance offer a potentially significant justification for using OQPSK rather than QPSK even on a linear transmission channel, where it often is reasoned (based on the assumption of an ideal environment) that the two modulation schemes perform identically.