Clipping value estimate for iterative tree search detection

The clipping value, defined as the log-likelihood ratio (LLR) in the case wherein all the list of candidates have the same binary value, is investigated, and an effective method to estimate it is presented for iterative tree search detection. The basic principle behind the method is that the clipping value of a channel bit is equal to the LLR of the maximum probability of correct decision of the bit to the corresponding probability of erroneous decision. In conjunction with multilevel bit mappings, the clipping value can be calculated with the parameters of the number of transmit antennas, N
t
; number of bits per constellation point, M
c
; and variance of the channel noise, σ
²
, per real dimension in the Rayleigh fading channel. Analyses and simulations show that the bit error performance of the proposed method is better than that of the conventional fixed-value method.