A fast recursive algorithm for optimum sequential signal detection in a BLAST system

Bell Laboratories layered space-time (BLAST) wireless systems are multiple-antenna communication schemes that can achieve very high spectral efficiencies in scattering environments with no increase in bandwidth or transmitted power. The most popular and, by far, the most practical architecture is the so-called vertical BLAST (V-BLAST). The signal detection algorithm of a V-BLAST system is computationally very intensive. If the number of transmitters is M and is equal to the number of receivers, this complexity is proportional to M⁴ at each sample time. We propose a very simple and efficient algorithm that reduces the complexity by a factor of M.