Delayed branch decision in quadrature decomposition with M-searching

摘要

A QRD-M decomposition includes a first and a sequential second stage, at least. In the first stage, M branches are selected from among more than M branches entering the first stage as survive branches from which multiple decompositions are calculated. In the second stage, more than M branches are selected from among those branches entering the second stage as survive branches from which multiple decompositions are calculated. The symbol of the received signal is decided from a branch that is a survive branch of both the first and second stages. The second stage may be within a window that may include additional stages at which the pruning decision down to M survive branches is delayed. One or more windows may be used in a single QRD-M decomposition. In an embodiment, all branches entering the second stage are survive branches. It is shown that the marginal increased computational load increases accuracy.