MLSE and equalization of space-time coded signals

Diversity transmission at the base station is an effective technique to combat adverse effects of fading. This is suggested as an alternative to diversity at the terminal, thereby reducing the implementation complexity. Space-time coding has been proposed as a coding technique for diversity transmission that will provide additional performance gains. We describe a maximum likelihood sequence estimator (MLSE) for space-time coded signals that exploits the structure present in some of these codes. Simulation results of the proposed equalizer show a substantial improvement over single antenna transmission.