A method is provided for implementing a coding and adaptive modulation
scheme for application to a point-to-point orthogonal frequency division
multiplexed radio communications link. The method determines estimates of
the likelihood of the two least significant bits of the digital
representation of an input amplitude being a predetermined logical level.
The likelihood estimates are input to a Forward Error Correction decoder,
which produces a decision as to the state of the bits taking into account
previous samples. Once the decision has been made, it is known what the
ideal input amplitude would have been in the absence of noise and
distortion, on the assumption that the decision was correct, and hence
the contribution due to noise and distortion can be estimated. This
knowledge can be used to assist the decoding of the most significant
bits.