Constellation mapping for modulated communications

1. A method of transmitting data using a modulated signal, the method comprising:

using a signal constellation arranged in first, second and third concentric circles to represent the data for transmitting the modulated signal, where the second circle has a greater diameter than the first circle and the third circle has a greater diameter than the second circle;

arranging a number X of signal points along each of the first and second circles where X is an even number;

arranging a number Y of signal points along the third circle where Y is twice X;

grouping all of the signal points on the first and second circles into first sets of four where each of the first sets includes two adjacent signal points from each of the first and second circles;

grouping all of the signal points on the third circle into second sets of four where each of the second sets includes four adjacent signal points and;

each of the first and second sets adapted to represent a two bit binary number based on which signal point of the four signal points in each set is transmitted.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein X is 16 and Y is 32.

3. The method according to claim 2 where the third circle radius is about 1.0, the second circle radius is about 0.7 and the first circle radius is about 0.5.

4. The method according to claim 1 further comprising using quadrature amplitude modulation for modulating the signal.

5. The method according to claim 1 further comprising separating the data into a plurality of predetermined sequence of information bits.

6. The method according to claim 5 further comprising encoding at least one of the bits of each of the predetermined sequence of information bits.

7. The method according to claim 6 wherein encoding comprises convolutionally encoding at least one bit.

8. The method according to claim 7 wherein the convolutional encoding is provided at a predetermined rate.

9. The method according to claim 1 wherein the constellation is a 64-ary constellation.

10. The method according to claim 1 further comprising transmitting data using a non-linear channel.

11. A method of transmitting data using a modulated signal, the method comprising:

using a signal constellation arranged in first, second, third and fourth concentric circles to represent the data for transmitting the modulated signal, where the second circle has a greater diameter than the first circle and the third circle has a greater diameter than the second circle and the fourth circle has a diameter greater than the third circle;

arranging a number W of signal points alone the first circle where W is an even number;

arranging a number X of signal points along the second circle where X is an even number greater than W;

arranging a number Y of signal points along the third circle where Y is an even number greater than X;

arranging a number Z of signal points along the fourth circle where Z is an even number greater than Y;

grouping all of the signal points on the first circle and some of the signal points on the second circle into first sets of four signal points where each of the first sets includes two adjacent signal points from each of the first and second circles;

grouping some of the signal points on the second circle and some of the signal points on the third circle into second sets of four signal points where each of the second sets includes two adjacent signal points from each of the second and third circles;

grouping some of the signal points on the third circle and some of the signal points on the fourth circle into third sets of four signal points where each of the third sets includes two adjacent signal points from each of the third and fourth circles;

grouping some of the signal points on the fourth circle into fourth sets of four signal points where each of the fourth sets includes four adjacent signal points on the fourth circle;

each of the sets adapted to represent a two bit binary number based on which signal point of the four signal points in each set is transmitted.

12. The method according to claim 11 wherein the fourth circle has twenty-four points, the third circle has twenty points, the second circle has twelve points and the first circle has eight points.

13. The method according to claim 12 where the fourth circle radius is about 1.0, the third circle radius is about 0.77, the second circle radius is about 0.54 and the first circle radius is about 0.31.

14. A method of transmitting a modulated signal, the transmission signal defined by a constellation pattern, the method comprising:

configuring the transmission signal based upon a signal constellation arranged in first, second and third concentric circles to represent the data for transmitting the modulated signal, where the second circle has a greater diameter than the first circle and the third circle has a greater diameter than the second circle;

arranging a number X of signal points along each of the first and second circles where X is an even number;

arranging a number Y of signal points along the third circle where Y is twice X;

grouping all of the signal points on the first and second circles into first sets of four signal points where each of the first sets includes two adjacent signal points from each of the first and second circles;

grouping all of the signal points on the third circle into second sets of four signal points where each of the second sets includes four adjacent signal points; and

each of the first and second sets adapted to represent a two bit binary number based on which signal point of the four signal points in each set is transmitted.

15. The method according to claim 14 wherein the signal constellation is a 64-ary constellation.

16. A method of transmitting a modulated signal, the transmission signal defined by a constellation pattern, the method comprising:

configuring the transmission signal based upon a signal constellation arranged in first, second, third and fourth concentric circles to represent the data for transmitting the modulated signal, where the second circle has a greater diameter than the first circle and the third circle has a greater diameter than the second circle and the fourth circle has a diameter greater than the third circle;

arranging a number W of signal points along the first circle where W is an even number;

arranging a number X of signal points along the second circle where X is an even number greater than W;

arranging a number Y of signal points along the third circle where Y is an even number greater than X;

arranging a number Z of signal points alone the fourth circle where Z is an even number greater than Y;

grouping all of the signal points on the first circle and some of the signal points on the second circle into first sets of four signal points where each of the first sets includes two adjacent signal points from each of the first and second circles;

grouping some of the signal points on the second circle and some of the signal points on the third circle into second sets of four signal points where each of the second sets includes two adjacent signal points from each of the second and third circles;

grouping some of the signal points on the third circle and some of the signal points on the fourth circle into third sets of four signal points where each of the third sets includes two adjacent signal points from each of the third and fourth circles;

grouping some of the signal points on the fourth circle into fourth sets of four signal points where each of the fourth sets includes four adjacent signal points on the fourth circle and;

each of the sets adapted to represent a two bit binary number based on which signal point of the four signal points in each set is transmitted.

17. The method according to claim 16 wherein the fourth circle has twenty-four points, the third circle has twenty points, the second circle has twelve points and the first circle has eight points.