Automatic Digital Modulation Classification Based on Curriculum Learning

Neural network shows great potential in modulation classification because of its excellent accuracy and achievability but overfitting and memorizing data noise often happen in previous researches on automatic digital modulation classifier. To solve this problem, we utilize two neural networks, namely MentorNet and StudentNet, to construct an automatic modulation classifier, which possesses great performance on the test set with −18–20 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The MentorNet supervises the training of StudentNet according to curriculum learning, and deals with the overfitting problem in StudentNet. The proposed classifier is verified in several test sets containing additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN), Rayleigh fading, carrier frequency offset and phase offset. Experimental results reveal that the overall accuracy of this classifier for common eleven modulation types was up to 99.3% while the inter-class accuracy could be up to 100%, which was much higher than many other classifiers. Besides, in the presence of interferences, the overall accuracy of this novel classifier still could reach 90% at 10 dB SNR indicting its excellent robustness, which makes it suitable for applications like military electronic warfare.