Method of noise estimation, corresponding device and computer program product

A communication interface configured to be coupled to a communication channel affected by impulsive noise, the communication interface comprising signal processing circuitry configured to cause the communication interface to:

• check the communication channel for a presence of information packets, and
• i) in response to an absence of the information packets transmitted over the channel, obtain a plurality of sets of signal samples sampled over the channel in the absence of the information packets, estimate noise power levels associated with the sets of signal samples, and allot the estimated noise power levels to respective noise power classes, each power class representing a respective designated power level range of the communication channel during the absence of the information packets, and
• ii) in response to a presence of at least one information packet transmitted over the channel, estimate an information packet power level associated with the at least one information packet;
• compute a set of signal-to-noise ratios of the information packet power level to the noise power levels in the respective noise power classes;
• compare the signal-to-noise ratios in the set of signal-to-noise ratios against a signal-to-noise threshold, wherein the signal-to-noise ratios in the set of signal-to-noise ratios are partitioned into a first subset of signal-to-noise ratios failing to exceed the signal-to-noise threshold and a second subset of signal-to-noise ratios exceeding the signal-to-noise threshold;
• and
• compute at least one resulting impulsive noise parameter as a function of impulsive noise parameters indicative of noise power levels included in the signal-to-noise ratios in the first subset of signal-to-noise ratios while disregarding impulsive noise parameters indicative of noise power levels included in the signal-to-noise ratios in the second subset of signal-to-noise ratios.

A computer program product loadable in memory of at least one computer and including software code portions that, when run on the at least one computer, cause the at least one computer to:

• check a communication channel for a presence of information packets, and
• i) in response to an absence of the information packets transmitted over the channel, obtain a plurality of sets of signal samples sampled over the channel in the absence of the information packets, estimate noise power levels associated with the sets of signal samples, and allot the estimated noise power levels to respective noise power classes, each power class representing a respective designated power level range of the communication channel during the absence of the information packets, and
• ii) in response to a presence of at least one information packet transmitted over the channel, estimate an information packet power level associated with the at least one information packet;
• compute a set of signal-to-noise ratios of the information packet power level to the noise power levels in the respective noise power classes;
• compare the signal-to-noise ratios in the set of signal-to-noise ratios against a signal-to-noise threshold, wherein the signal-to-noise ratios in the set of signal-to-noise ratios are partitioned into a first subset of signal-to-noise ratios failing to exceed the signal-to-noise threshold and a second subset of signal-to-noise ratios exceeding the signal-to-noise threshold;
• and
• compute at least one resulting impulsive noise parameter as a function of impulsive noise parameters indicative of noise power levels included in the signal-to-noise ratios in the first subset of signal-to-noise ratios while disregarding impulsive noise parameters indicative of noise power levels included in the signal-to-noise ratios in the second subset of signal-to-noise ratios.