Circuit and Method for Processing Data

A circuit for processing data including a first component and a second component, the circuit comprising:

• a first processing stage arranged to calculate an absolute value of the first component and an absolute value of the second component, and to output, at a first output of the first processing stage, a maximum value of the absolute value of the first component and the absolute value of the second component, and, at a second output of the first processing stage, a minimum value of the absolute value of the first component and the absolute value of the second component;
• a second processing stage including a first output and a second output, wherein the second processing stage is arranged to:
• (i) in response to the maximum value being greater than the minimum value times four, output at the first output a value corresponding to the maximum value, and to output at the second output a value corresponding to the minimum value, and
• (ii) in response to the maximum value being smaller than the minimum value times four, output at the first output a value corresponding to a sum of seven times the maximum value and four times the minimum value, and to output at the second output a value corresponding to a difference between seven times the minimum value and four times the maximum value;
• a mapping stage arranged to output a phase value selected from a plurality of predetermined phase values based on a value output at the first output of the second processing stage and a value output at the second output of the second processing stage;
• a phase estimator stage arranged to output a phase estimate representing an estimate of a phase of the data including the first and the second component, the phase estimate being based on the phase value output by the mapping stage, information indicating an octant of the data, and information indicating whether the maximum value exceeds the minimum value times four;
• and
• a magnitude estimator stage arranged to output a magnitude estimate representing an estimate of a magnitude of the data, the magnitude estimate being based on a value output by the first output of the second processing stage.