On the Performance of Rate 1/2 Convolutional Codes with QPSK on Rician Fading Channels

This paper is concerned with the bit error probability performance of rate lL! convolutional codes in conjunction with quaternary phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation and maximum likelihood Viterbi decoding on fully interleaved Rician fading channels. Applying the generating function union bounding approach, an asymptotically tight analytic upper bound on the bit error probability performance is developed under the assumption of using the Viterbi decoder with perfect fading amplitude measurement. Bit error probability performance of constraint length K = three to seven codes with QPSK is numerically evaluated using the developed bound. Tightness of the bound is examined by means of computer simulation. The influence of perfect amplitude measurement on the performance of Viterbi decoder is also observed. Finally, performance comparison with rate 112 codes with binary phase shift keying (BPSK) is also provided.