Soft-Input Soft-Output Multiple Symbol Differential Detection for UWB Communications

Multiple-symbol differential detection (MSDD) is a promising technique to enhance the performance of ultra-wideband (UWB) communications without estimating the channel explicitly. In this context, the generalized log-likelihood ratio test (GLRT) for MSDD was developed, and the hard-output multiple-symbol detector was proposed, which exhibits considerable bit-error-rate (BER) performance improvement over transmitted reference transmissions. In this paper, we further improve the system performance by incorporating error correction code (ECC) and iterative processing at the receiver. The soft-input soft-output (SISO) MSDD is developed to deliver a posteriori information to the outer ECC decoder and enables iterative detection and decoding. Simulations show that the iterative processing achieves significant gains over the existing MSDD in UWB communications.