Permutation trellis codes

We introduce the new concept of permutation trellis codes and present a generalized construction procedure, applying our technique of distance-preserving mappings. Minimum-distance decoding follows naturally, using the Viterbi algorithm. We furthermore investigate the performance of these codes when combined with multitone frequency-shift keying modulation and noncoherent detection in a diversity scheme, to make transmissions robust against narrowband, broadband, and background noise disturbances, such as those encountered in power-line communications. © 2005 IEEE.