Burst mode equalization: optimal approach and suboptimal continuous-processing approximation

We consider a transmission by burst where the data are organized and sent b y bursts. At each end of the burst of data, a sequence of symbols is assume d known, and the channel considered as constant over the burst duration. Th e optimal structure of the burst mode equalizers is derived. The class of l inear and decision feedback equalizers is considered, as well the class of ISI cancelers that use past but also future decisions: for each class of eq ualizers the MMSE, the unbiased MMSE and the MMSE zero forcing versions are derived. Unlike in the continuous-processing mode, the optimal burst mode filters are time varying. The performance of the different equalizers are e valuated and compared to each other in terms of SNR and probability of erro r: these measures depend on the position of the estimated symbol and on the presence of known symbols. Finally, we show that, by choosing correctly th e number and position of the known symbols, (time-invariant) continuous-pro cessing filters applied to burst mode can be organized to give sufficiently good performance, so that optimal (time-varying) burst processing implemen tation can be avoided. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.