Reduced Complexity Detection for V-BLAST Systems: from Theory to Practice

V-BLAST (Vertical Bell Lab Layered Space-Time) wireless systems are multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) schemes which can achieve very high spectral efficiency in scattering environments. However the implementation of V- BLAST system posts a major challenge to hardware designers due to high algorithmic complexity and huge processing power required for V-BLAST detection. In this paper, we propose a reduced complexity VLSI architecture for V-BLAST detection based on the improved square root algorithm. In particular, we analyze the finite word length effect specific to the architecture and derive the optimal word lengths and the number of rotation stages considering tradeoff between the performance and the hardware complexity.