A 38pJ/b Optimal Soft-MIMO Detector

Mahdi Shabany, Roya Doostnejad, Mojtaba Mahdavi, Glenn Gulak

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

An optimal soft multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) detector is proposed with linear complexity for a general spatial multiplexing system with two transmitting symbols and NR ≥ 2 receiving antennas. The computational complexity of the proposed scheme is independent of the operating signal-tonoise ratio (SNR) and grows linearly with the constellation order. It provides the soft maximum-likelihood (ML) solution using an efficient Log-Likelihood Ratio (LLR) calculation method, avoiding the exhaustive search on all the candidate nodes. Moreover, an efficient pipelined hardware implementation of the detection algorithm is proposed, which is fabricated and fully tested in a 130nm CMOS technology. Operating at 1.2 V supply with 412 MHz clock, the chip achieves up to 5 Gbps throughput with 192mW power dissipation and an energy efficiency of 38 pJ/b, showing a great potential to be used in next generation Gbps wireless systems. The proposed MIMO detector is perfectly suitable to be applied to the Long Term Evolution (LTE) modem as well as Wi-Fi and WiGig devices with more than 1 RF chain. Synthesis results in a 90nm CMOS technology demonstrates that the design can operate at a sustained throughput of 6.2 Gbps, and an energy efficiency of 28 pJ/b at 1.2 V supply. For applications demanding a lower throughput regime, the core can operate at 0.9 V supply consuming 42mW providing a throughput of 1 Gbps1.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1062 - 1066
Number of pages5
JournalIEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs
Volume64
Issue number9
Early online date2016 Dec 22
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017 Sept

Subject classification (UKÄ)

  • Communication Systems
  • Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering

Free keywords

  • MIMO detectors
  • soft-output
  • VLSI architecture
  • ASIC implementation
  • optimal detection

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