Variable rate DPSK system architecture

A communication system and more particularly to a variable rate differential phase shift keying (DPSK) communication system with minimal hardware that does not have power or performance penalties associated with known DPSK modulation systems is disclosed. The DPSK modulation system in accordance with the present invention includes a transmitter, which includes a carrier signal source, a phase modulator and a DPSK encoder for modulating a carrier signal. The modulated carrier signals may be amplified, for example, in optical communication systems by a rare earth element doped fiber amplifier. The signals are continuously transmitted to a multi-rate receiver through a communication channel, for example, free space. The multi-rate receiver includes a single demodulator, for example, a single optical interferometer, used for multiple integer sub-harmonic data rates which demodulates the modulated signal. The demodulated signals are detected, for example, in optical communication systems by an arrangement of photodiodes, and the detected signals are applied to, for example, a clock and data recovery circuit that is tuned as a function of data rate, for example, by way of a switched filter circuit. The switched filter circuit may include a plurality of low-pass filters that are selected as a function of the data rate. Since the carrier signal is continuously transmitted, a phase reference is available to demodulate all received power and the peak transmitted power is approximately equal to the average transmitted power even at data rates corresponding to bit times that are large compared to the differential time delay of the demodulator.