Reduced-Complexity QAM-Aided Space-Time Shift Keying

A novel reduced-complexity near-optimal detection algorithm is proposed for enhancing the recent coherently-detected Space-Time Shift Keying (STSK) scheme employing arbitrary constellations, such as L-point Phase-Shift Keying (PSK) and Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM). The proposed detector relies on a modified Matched Filter (MF) concept. More specifically, we exploit both the constellation diagram of the modulation scheme employed as well as the Inter-Element-Interference (IEI)-free STSK architecture. It is revealed that the proposed detector is capable of approaching the optimal Maximum Likelihood (ML) detector´s performance, while avoiding the exhaustive ML search.