QOSTBC coded MIMO system with reduced complexity and optimised decoding for rank deficient channels

Abstract

In multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, rank deficient channels are the most common and key areas of research. In these channels, the number of transmit antennas (MTx) is higher than receive antennas (MRx) and subsequently the unknown variables are more than the number of equations. In such situations, the conventional sphere decoder (SD) fails due to the presence of zero diagonal elements in Cholesky decomposition. This study analyses the quasi-orthogonal space-time block code (QOSTBC) of symbol rate-2 for MTx = 4 with modified double-layer SD detection to overcome rank deficiency problem. The first half of transmitted symbols is detected using two partially dependent SDs with optimised search radii. The remaining half is detected by employing single symbol maximum likelihood detection. Simulation and analytical results indicate that the proposed detection scheme reduces bit error rate and complexity compared to existing techniques.