Local ML Detection for Multicarrier DS-CDMA Downlink Systems with Grouped Linear Precoding

A multicarrier direct-sequence code-division multiple-access (MC-DS-CDMA) downlink system with linear precoding over a group of subcarriers is considered. This scheme preserves user orthogonality independently of the underlying frequency-selective channel, collects the channel diversity and enables low-complexity decoding. In this context, we examine a local maximum-likelihood (LML) detection technique that searches for the maximum-likelihood (ML) solution in the neighborhood of the output provided by the minimum mean-squared error (MMSE) detector. By exploiting the soft information of the MMSE detector output and the precoder structure, we introduce useful criteria to reduce the computational complexity of the LML search. Simulations illustrate that the LML-MMSE detector with minimum neighborhood size yields considerable BER improvement with respect to MMSE, and outperforms a block decision-feedback equalization (DFE) approach at comparable complexity.