Effective Equalization for Overlapped Chirp-based Communications Systems

In this paper, we consider different equalization techniques for chirp-based communications systems. Although chirps are more commonly used for radar systems, several studies show their potential for either low-rate communication or for high spectral efficiency using an overlapping technique. However, previous literature has dealt only with additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels. In this paper, we investigate the overlapped chirps under multipath channel models. More specifically, we model the overlapped chirp-based communication system and then reformulate the receive signals to which common linear and non-linear equalizers are applicable. For the purpose of benchmarking, we demonstrate the effectiveness of those equalizers in a realistic SG tapped delay line (TDL) channel model. Our simulation results show that, with proper equalization, overlapped chirps can also operate under multipath channels, and that non-linear equalization methods outperform linear ones.