Auto-correlation system and method for rate detection of a data communication channel

摘要

Rate detection of a data rate within a sequence of transmitted symbols employs correlation to calculate estimates of the auto-correlation values, or estimated coefficients, of the sequence. When the sequence of transmitted symbols includes repeated symbol values, the auto-correlation values indicate a degree of self-similarity within the sequence. A decision statistic may be formed from the auto-correlation values. The self-similarity of the auto-correlation values may be employed as a decision statistic with associated hypothesis test pair values. Various decision methods may be implemented to compare auto-correlation values to thresholds based on the hypothesis test pair values. Based on the comparison, the data rate of the sequence may be determined. Once the information is determined related to the data rate, the information may be employed by a Viterbi detector to adjust the decoding rate for decoding the symbols.