Machine Learning Based Automatic Modulation Recognition for Wireless Communications: A Comprehensive Survey

• Main Authors: Bachir Jdid, Kais Hassan, Iyad Dayoub, Wei Hong Lim, Mastaneh Mokayef
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 2021-01-01
• Series: IEEE Access
• Subjects: Automatic modulation recognition; deep learning; machine learning; MIMO; SISO; wireless signal classification
• Online Access: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9399081/

The rapid development of information and wireless communication technologies together with the large increase in the number of end-users have made the radio spectrum more crowded than ever. Besides, providing a stable and reliable service is challenging, as electromagnetic environments are evolving and becoming more sophisticated. Accordingly, there is an urgent need for more reliable and intelligent communication systems that can improve the spectrum efficiency and the quality of service to provide agile management of network resources, so as to better meet the needs of future wireless users. Specifically, Automatic Modulation Recognition (AMR) plays an essential role in most intelligent communication systems especially with the emergence of Software Defined Radio (SDR). AMR is an indispensable task while performing spectrum sensing in Cognitive Radio (CR). Thanks to the significant advancements in Deep Learning (DL) applications, new and powerful tools have been provided which can tackle problems in this space. Thus, today, integrating DL models into AMR has gained the attention of many researchers. This work aims to provide a comprehensive state-of-the-art review of the most recent Machine Learning (ML) based AMR methods for Single-Input Single-Output (SISO) and Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems. Furthermore, the architecture of each model will be identified along with a detailed comparison in terms of specifications and performance. Finally, an outline of the open problems, challenges, and potential research directions is provided along with discussion and conclusion.