Improved Automatic Threshold Correction for FSK.docx

Improved Automatic Threshold Correction for FSKKok Chen, W7AYIntroductionAutomatic Threshold Correction (ATC) is used in frequency shift keyed (FSK) reception to optimize the decision threshold level in the presence of selective fading. With /wiki/On-off_keyingOn-Off Keying (OOK), a single carrier is keyed on and off to convey information. OOK can suffer from /wiki/Rayleigh_fadingRayleigh fading on HF propagation channels. /wiki/Frequency-shift_keyingFrequency Shift Keying (FSK) synchronously keys two separate carriers (when one carrier is off, the other carrier is on) and has on average 3 dB better sensitivity than OOK. To produce the same error rate as FSK, OOK would need to transmit twice the peak power as does FSK. One of the carriers of FSK is called the Mark carrier and the other carrier is called the Space carrier. The separation of the carriers is called the FSK “shift.” An additional (and very important) advantage of FSK is that /wiki/Frequency-selective_fadingselective fading often occurs in HF channels. If the FSK shift is sufficiently wide, one of the FSK carriers can remain strong while the other carrier undergoes a deep fade. Unlike OOK, this allows the FSK signal to still be copied through selective fading, albeit at a higher error rate than when both FSK carriers are strong. FSK DemodulationThe information bits of an FSK signal are usually demodulated by subtracting the amplitude of the filtered Space signal from the amplitude of the filtered Mark signal, with the decision threshold set to zero. When the difference is greater than zero, a Mark is assumed to be sent. If the difference is below zero, a Space is assumed to be sent. This process is often called slicing. For optimal demodulation of a bit stream in /wiki/Additive_white_Gaussian_noiseadditive white Gaussian noise (AWGN), a /wiki/Matched_filtermatched filter can be used in the Mark and Space filter locations. A matched filter can also be placed just ahead of the slicer. Simple FSK Demodulato