Abstract: A phase tracker receives a signal component xn and forms a phase- and gain-corrected signal zn. In particular, the phase tracker performs a Hilbert transform of xn to produce a quadrature phase component yn to form the constellation defined by (xn, yn). Consequently, phase rotation and gain adjustment are combined into a linear transform of the constellation defined by (xn, yn). The linear transform zn=&agr;xn+&bgr;yn employs two coefficients &agr; and &bgr;. The coefficients &agr; and &bgr; of the linear transform are derived so as to provide an optimal solution according to minimum mean square error. Approximations to the coefficients &agr; and &bgr; of the linear transform may be iteratively determined with a stochastic gradient method. Advantages of employing the phase- and gain-corrected signal zn as an I-phase detection result of a demodulator include 1) the phase rotation and gain adjustment are combined into one operation, and 2) the a sine/cosine lookup table is not employed.