The role played by the higher-order wide-sense cyclostationarity prope
rties in Rice's representation of a signal is investigated. Specifical
ly, formulas relating higher-order cyclic spectra of signals involved
in Rice's representation of a signal exhibiting cyclostationarity are
derived. It is shown that some known results relative to second-order
cyclic spectra cannot be extended to higher orders. Furthermore, with
reference to strictly band-limited signals, inclusion relationships fo
r the spectral supports (in the space of the cycle and spectral freque
ncies) of the considered higher-order spectra are determined. Finally,
as examples of application, the problem of cycloergodicity for the hi
gher-order cyclic spectra of a quadrature amplitude modulated signal a
nd the bandpass linear time-invariant system identification are consid
ered. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.