Methods and apparatus for extracting symbols from an SC-FDMA digital communications signal using a maximum likelihood detector

摘要

A method and system are described for applying MLD detection to SC-FDMA data streams. Embodiments obtain initial estimates of at least some symbols encoded within an SC-FDMA data input using a non-MLD algorithm, and then use the initial estimates to reduce the search space and the MLD complexity. In addition, the reduced complexity MLD (“RC-MLD”) is applied only to a limited search window within the digital communication input, thereby modeling only a subset of the symbols included in the digital communication input. The MLD complexity is thereby reduced sufficiently for an RC-MLD decoder to simultaneously model and extract a plurality of the symbols included in the data input. Symbols initially decoded by the non-MLD algorithm can be subtracted from the data input in a serial interference cancelling module. This cancellation can be applied successively in a turbo-loop.