Classification of linear modulations by mean of a fourth-order cumulant

Abstract

In this paper, we present a new linear modulation classification method based on a fourth-order cumulant of the stationary signal. Under some hypothesis, this method can be applied to carrier-modulated or baseband signals and doesn't need the knowledge of the signal to noise ratio. An example of classification is given for 4 PSK vs. 16 QAM modulations. Theoretical performance are approximated and compared to simulation results. The system achieves more than 90 % of correct classification for only 500 transmitted symbols and a signal to noise ratio of 0 dB.