Fast maximum-likelihood decoding of the golden code

• Published in: IEEE transactions on wireless communications Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 26 - 31
• Main Authors: Sinnokrot, M.O., Barry, J.R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01-01-2010; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Alphabets; Applied sciences; Channels; Coding, codes; Complexity; Conveying; Decoders; Decoding; Error probability; Exact sciences and technology; Golden code; Information, signal and communications theory; Maximum likelihood decoding; Modulation coding; Modulation, demodulation; Quadrature amplitude modulation; Receiving antennas; Signal and communications theory; Signal to noise ratio; Space time codes; Symbols; Systems, networks and services of telecommunications; Telecommunications; Telecommunications and information theory; Transmission and modulation (techniques and equipments); Transmitters; Transmitting antennas; WiMAX; Wireless communication; Alphabet; maximum-likelihood decoding; M ary modulation; Golden code; Quadrature amplitude modulation; Worst case method; Information transmission; Implementation; Maximum likelihood decoding
• ISSN: 1536-1276; 1558-2248
• DOI: 10.1109/TWC.2010.01.081512

Because each golden code codeword conveys four information symbols from an M-ary QAM alphabet, the complexity of an exhaustive-search decoder is proportional to M 4 . In this paper we prove that the golden code is fast-decodable, meaning that maximum-likelihood decoding is possible with a worst-case complexity proportional to only M 2.5 . The golden code retains its fast-decodable property regardless of whether the channel varies with time. We also present an efficient implementation of a fast maximum-likelihood decoder that exhibits a low average complexity.