Iterative MIMO Effective SNR Mapping for ML Decoder

A new performance abstraction method for the Maximum Likelihood Decoder (MLD) in the Multiple-Inputs Multiple-Outputs (MIMO) channel is presented. The method is based on a model of the iterative equalize and de-map decoder for MIMO channel and abstracts the performance of the MIMO link into a set of effective Signal-to-Noise power Ratio (SNR) values corresponding to the different streams. The proposed Iterative MIMO Effective SNR (IMES) approach is general and allows for the use of different modulation constellations and independent channel encoding on the MIMO streams. The low complexity IMES technique can be applied to different MIMO configurations and can be combined with existing approaches -such as Exponential Effective SNR Mapping (EESM) and Mean Mutual Information per Bit (MMIB) - for link performance abstraction of MIMO OFDM systems. Performance results show that the proposed method delivers accurate performance abstraction across configurations with different numbers of transmit antennas and input constellation modulation orders.