On sparse graph coding for coherent and noncoherent demodulation

In this paper, we consider a bit-interleaved coded modulation scheme (BICM) composed of an error correcting code serially concatenated with a M-ary non linear modulation with memory. We first compare demodulation strategies for both the coherent and the non coherent cases. Then, we perform an asymptotic analysis and try to show that the design of coding schemes performing well for both the coherent and the non coherent regimes should be done carefully when considering sparse graph based codes such as low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes. It will be shown that optimized coding schemes for the non coherent setting can perform fairly well when using coherent demodulation, while on the contrary, optimized coding schemes for the coherent setting may lead to “non stable” coding schemes in the non coherent setting.