Iterative decoding and channel estimation for space-time BICM over MIMO block fading multipath AWGN channel

In this paper, we consider a generic model of space-time bit-interleaved coded modulation (ST-BICM) on a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) Rayleigh fading multipath channel. A practical low-complexity receiver structure performing iteratively MIMO data detection, channel decoding and channel estimation, is presented. The MIMO data detection, employing a reduced-state list-type soft output Viterbi algorithm enables to cope with severe channel intersymbol interference (ISI) without MIMO prefiltering. Among other results, simulations show that our approach can dramatically improve the downlink performance of time-division multiple access (TDMA) systems with high order modulation, keeping a reasonable complexity at the receiver side.