Detecting multi-mode MIMO signals: Algorithm and architecture design

This paper presents an efficient and reconfigurable MIMO detector design solution targeting on the emerging LTE-A downlink. The detector supports signal detection of multiple MIMO modes which are spatial-multiplexing (SM), spatial-diversity (SD), and space-division-multiple-access (SDMA). Cost-reduction is achieved by algorithm and architecture co-design where low-complexity, near-maximum-likelihood (ML) detection algorithms are proposed for these three MIMO modes respectively while keeping in mind that operations could be reused among different MIMO modes. A multi-stage VLSI architecture is accordingly developed that achieves run-time reconfigurability without extra hardware overhead. Simulation and analysis results have confirmed the efficiency of the proposed solution.