Improved Decision-Feedback Detection Schemes for STBC over Time-Selective Fading Channels

Abstract

This letter proposes two efficient decision-feedback (DF) detection schemes for space-time block code (STBC) over time-selective fading channels. The existing DF detection causes error propagation when the first symbol is not detected correctly. However, the proposed detection schemes provide two candidates according to a channel gain or an average log-likelihood ratio (LLR) based selection rule and choose a better candidate for the first symbol. Simulation results show that the proposed detection schemes reduce error propagation and yield significant signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) gain with moderate complexity, compared to the existing DF detection scheme.