Coherent and self-coherent signal processing techniques

1. A multi-symbol-differential-detection module, comprising:

an input node for receiving an input signal having a noisy phase;

a summation and rotation unit; and

an output unit;

wherein the output unit is arranged to output an output signal and a normalized output signal; wherein the output signal represents the input signal but has a reconstructed phase;

wherein the summation and rotation unit is arranged to receive the input signal and the output signal and to provide a reference signal that reflects a weighted sum of phase rotated and delayed previously received input signals;

wherein the output unit comprises a phase difference calculator, a slicer, a delay unit and a normalizer;

wherein the phase difference calculator is arranged to generate a difference signal indicative of a phase difference between the reference signal and the input signal;

wherein the slicer and the delay unit are arranged to generate the output signal by slicing the difference signal to provide a sliced signal and by delaying the sliced signal; and

wherein the normalizer is arranged to normalize the output signal to provide the normalized output signal.

2. The multi-symbol-differential-detection module according to claim 1 , wherein the summation and rotation unit is arranged to phase rotate each delayed previously received input signal by a multiplication with a corresponding delayed normalized output signal.

3. The multi-symbol-differential-detection module according to claim 1 , wherein the summation and rotation unit is arranged to multiply each phase rotated and delayed previously received input signal by a coefficient out of multiple coefficients to provide multiple intermediate signals and to sum the multiple intermediate signals to provide the reference signal.

4. The multi-symbol-differential-detection module according to claim 3 , comprising a coefficients calculator arranged to calculate the multiple coefficients in an adaptive manner.

5. The multi-symbol-differential-detection module according to claim 4 , wherein the coefficient calculator is arranged to calculate the multiple coefficients such as to optimize a phase estimation point of work of the multi-symbol-differential-detection module.

6. The multi-symbol-differential-detection module according to claim 4 , wherein the coefficients calculator is arranged to calculate the multiple coefficients according to a least mean square error algorithm that is responsive to the difference signal.

7. The multi-symbol-differential-detection module according to claim 4 , wherein the coefficients calculator is arranged to calculate the multiple coefficients during a training period during which a training sequence is injected to either one of the coefficient calculator or to the input node.

8. The multi-symbol-differential-detection module according to claim 4 , wherein the coefficient calculator is arranged to calculate each one of the coefficients.

9. The multi-symbol-differential-detection module according to claim 4 , wherein the coefficient calculator is arranged to calculate coefficients so that during at least one point in time one coefficient differs from another coefficient.

10. The multi-symbol-differential-detection module according to claim 3 , wherein the summation and rotation unit comprises a normalizer that differs from the normalizer of the output unit and is arranged to normalize the input signal before providing the input signal to a sequence of delay units of the summation and rotation unit.

11. The multi-symbol-differential-detection module according to claim 10 , wherein the summation and rotation unit is arranged to normalize the multiple intermediate signals to provide the reference signal.

12. The multi-symbol-differential-detection module according to claim 3 , wherein the summation and rotation unit is arranged to normalize the multiple intermediate signals to provide the reference signal.

13. The multi-symbol-differential-detection module according to claim 1 , wherein the summation and rotation unit is arranged to multiply each phase rotated and delayed previously received input signal by a coefficient to provide multiple intermediate signals, wherein all phase rotated and delayed previously received input signals are multiplied by the coefficient.

14. The multi-symbol-differential-detection module according to claim 13 , wherein the coefficient is fixed.

15. The multi-symbol-differential-detection module according to claim 13 , wherein all multipliers of the summation and rotation unit are less complex than a complex multiplier of the phase difference calculator.

16. The multi-symbol-differential-detection module according to claim 13 , wherein the summation and rotation units is free of normalizers.

17. The multi-symbol-differential-detection module according to claim 13 , wherein the summation and rotation unit comprises a normalizer that differs from the normalizer of the output unit and arranged to normalize each input signal received by the summation and rotation unit.

18. The multi-symbol-differential-detection module according to claim 13 , comprising a coefficient calculator arranged to calculate the coefficient in an adaptive manner.

19. The multi-symbol-differential-detection module according to claim 18 , wherein the coefficients calculator is arranged to calculate the coefficient according to a least mean square error algorithm that is responsive to the difference signal.

20. The multi-symbol-differential-detection module according to claim 18 , wherein the coefficients calculator is arranged to calculate the coefficient during a training period during which a training sequence is injected to either one of the coefficient calculator or to the input node.