Per-survivor processing and tentative decisions: what is in between?

In per-survivor processing (PSP), the number of parameter estimators equals the number of retained hypothetical data sequences (survivors). The authors propose an algorithm which uses an arbitrary number of parameter estimators and compromises between the two extremes of tentative decisions (one parameter estimator) and PSP. Specific applications to reduced state sequence estimation (RSSE) and maximum likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE) with adaptive tracking of a fading channel are considered.