BINARY COMMUNICATION-SYSTEMS PERFORMANCE IN IMPULSIVE ATMOSPHERIC NOISE

Analytical results are presented of the performance of binary systems, both coherent and noncoherent, operating in the presence of impulsive radio noise at tropical latitudes. The receiver structure is the maximum-likelihood detector. Employing the available model of impulsive atmospheric noise, it has been possible to obtain exact values for error probability in terms of snr and average impulse rates for coherent signaling schemes. For noncoherent systems, only bounds could be worked out. However, in two of the three cases considered the bounds are close. At higher snr, the systems performance is better in continuous noise than in impulsive noise, whereas at lower snr, the performance in impulsive noise is better. A possible explanation for this has been found in the very nature of the impulsive noise.