Complex-Valued Networks for Automatic Modulation Classification

Deep learning (DL) has been recognized as an effective solution for automatic modulation classification (AMC). However, most recent DL based AMC works are based on real-valued operations and representations. In this correspondence, we aim to demonstrate the high potential of complex-valued networks for AMC. We present the design of several key building blocks for complex-valued networks, such as complex convolution, complex batch-normalization, complex weight initialization, and complex dense strategies. We then provide a comparison study of three different neural network models and their complex-valued counterparts using the RadioML 2016.10 A dataset. Our results validate the superior performance in AMC achieved by the complex-valued networks.