Simplified ML detection scheme for MIMO systems

We propose a simplified maximum likelihood (ML) detection scheme, based on a multi-stage likelihood test, for MIMO systems. The proposed scheme chooses several surviving symbol combinations at each stage by likelihood tests for the restricted sub-streams, feeds them to the next stage, and finally detects whole sub-streams at the last stage. According to simulation results, the proposed scheme can achieve almost the same performance as that of the ML detection scheme, with far less complexity.