Improved spatial-temporal equalization for EDGE: a fast selective-direction MMSE timing recovery algorithm and two-stage soft-output equalizer

The radio interface EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution) is currently being standardized as an evolutionary path from GSM and TDMA-IS136 for third-generation high-speed data wireless systems. For the EDGE system with multiple antennas, spatial-temporal equalization (STE) can reduce intersymbol interference and co-channel interference, thereby increasing the capacity and range. In this paper, we propose two new techniques to improve the performance of a previously proposed STE: a fast timing recovery algorithm for a selective time-reversal equalizer and a two-stage soft-output equalizer. The new timing recovery algorithm determines the estimated burst timing and processing direction by computing the minimum mean-square error (MMSE) for decision feedback equalizers in both the forward and reverse time directions. The two-stage soft-output equalizer is the cascade of a delayed decision-feedback sequence estimator (DDFSE) and maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) estimator. The DDFSE provides better noise variance estimation and channel truncation for the following MAP. The performance of the new STE is evaluated for the EDGE. At 10% block error rate, the two-branch receiver requires a 3–7-dB lower signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) than the previous approach. Compared with the one-branch receiver, the two-branch receiver requires a 4-dB lower SNR with noise only, and a 10–27-dB lower SIR with a single interferer.