Joint equalization and decoding: why choose the iterative solution?

This paper deals with turbo-equalization as a joint equalization and decoding algorithm. The performance analysis shows that there is a trigger point in this iterative process, followed by a breakdown effect. Actually after a given point (the trigger one), the BER decreases steeply as a function of the decoding step p. We compare the performance of the turbo-equalizer with that of the optimal joint receiver and show that it can match the bound over the optimal disjoint receiver