Performance analysis of APSK modulation for DVB‐S2 transmission over nonlinear channels

For increased bandwidth efficiency and receiver performance, standards for satellite broadcasting systems are evolving by utilizing efficient transmission techniques. The second‐generation digital video broadcasting for satellites (DVB‐S2) adopts the amplitude phase shift keying (APSK) modulation for enhanced performance over nonlinear channels. In this paper, we derive error rate bounds for APSK modulated symbols and generalize the bounds to the case of distorted constellation, which occurs when the maximum transmission amplitude is saturated by the soft‐limiter type channel. The derived bound is shown to significantly improve the previously known result, to accurately predict both the symbol error rate and bit error rate in the entire signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) region of interest. Using the derived formula, the optimal input power level for the soft‐limiter channel is determined, and the corresponding minimal error rates for 16‐ and 32‐APSK are quantified. The result is also interpreted in terms of optimal input back‐off (IBO) for nonlinear power amplifiers by evaluating the performance degradation as a function of IBO. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.