METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR COMMUNICATING INFORMATION IN A DIGITAL SIGNAL

摘要

The present invention relates to a communication method, system and signal, and in particular to a method and system for communicating information in a digital signal. It has particular application to satellite or terrestrial packet-based multi-user radio communication systems. A method for communicating information in a digital signal comprising data symbols is disclosed, wherein the information is encoded in a sequence characteristic of pilot symbols distributed amongst the data symbols, such that a receiver is able to determine the sequence characteristic and retrieve the transmitted information. The invention allows information to be encoded into a sequence characteristic of pilot symbols, rather than relying on modulating such information onto the pilot symbols themselves. This allows a significantly larger number of pieces of information to be transmitted than hitherto possible, and the technique is more resistant to large frequency errors than prior techniques.