Realizable Hardware-Based Method for Digital Modulation Classification

A new method suited for hardware implementation is developed to classify 8 different digital modulation types with raised cosine base-band impulse without knowing the carrier frequency and symbol timing. The normalized histogram of stagnation points for instantaneous parameters is used to recognize both ideal rectangular and raised cosine base-band digital signals. Carrier frequency estimation is used to enhance the recognition rate of phase-modulated signals. In the condition of 10 dB signal noise ratio (SNR), the recognizing rate is over 80%. The new algorithm is suited for hardware implementation.