17 September 2021

SDPSK 40Bd 50Hz OFDM-60 (60-out-of-61 + pilot tone)

OFDM signal heard on 5767.0 KHz (cf) and consisting of 61 channels plus a pilot tone located at the lowest frequency (thus 62 channels in all). The modulator actually uses 60 of the 61 available channels (60-out-of-61) since the position #34 is empty (figure 1).

Fig. 1

For what concerns the OFDM formation, the channels have a 50 Hz spacing and are modulated using SDPSK - also called π/2-DPSK (1) - at the rate of 40 symbol/sec (2400Bd as "aggregate" speed).
 
Fig. 2

Fig. 3

The pilot tone at its lowest position, rather than at the usual highest frequency of 3300 Hz, leds to think of a Russian "Serdolik" waveform, indeed it's similar to the Serdolik OFDM-60 [1]: same speed (40Bd) and spacing (50 Hz) but PSK4 modulation. Some friends of mine (Karaputz, linkz,...) confirmed the idea, likely an enhanced waveform.
Reception and recording thanks to the "Tambov" KiwiSDR [2].
 
(1) In SA Phase-Plane using n-Ary = 4 and absolute mode (diff=0) the transitions between states are similar to QPSK but without diagonal paths (no "zero" crossings); in differential mode (diff=1) we see transitions between two states (Fig. 3) thus it's a Differential-PSK or DPSK. DPSK is called Conventional DPSK (or CDPSK) if the phase differences is in the set of [0,π] and Symmetrical DPSK (SDPSK, also called π/2-DPSK) if the phase difference is in the set of [π/2,-π/2].  As you see in Figure 3, the transitions in differential mode (diff=1) are in the set of [π/2,-π/2].
 
 

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