Low-Complexity Iterative Detection for Orthogonal Time Frequency Space Modulation

We elaborate on the recently proposed orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) modulation technique, which provides significant advantages over orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) in Doppler channels. We first derive the input–output relation describing OTFS modulation and demodulation (mod/demod) for delay–Doppler channels with arbitrary number of paths, with given delay and Doppler values. We then propose a low-complexity message passing (MP) detection algorithm, which is suitable for large-scale OTFS taking advantage of the inherent channel sparsity. Since the fractional Doppler paths (i.e., not exactly aligned with the Doppler taps) produce the inter Doppler interference (IDI), we adapt the MP detection algorithm to compensate for the effect of IDI in order to further improve performance. Simulations results illustrate the superior performance gains of OTFS over OFDM under various channel conditions.