Block-Wise QR-Decomposition for the Layered and Hybrid Alamouti STBC MIMO Systems: Algorithms and Hardware Architectures

Unlike the channel matrix in the spatial division multiplexing (SDM) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system, the equivalent channel matrix in the layered Alamouti space-time block coding (STBC) MIMO system comprised 2-by-2 Alamouti sub-blocks. One novel property, found by Sayed about the QR-decomposition (QRD) of this equivalent channel matrix is that the produced Q- and R-matrices are also matrices with Alamouti sub-blocks. Taking advantage of this property, we propose a new block-wise complex Givens rotation (BCGR) based algorithm and a triangular systolic array (TSA) to compute the QRD of the equivalent channel matrix in an Alamouti block by block manner. Implementation results reveal that our new TSA can compute QRDs of 4-by-4 equivalent channel matrices faster than any architecture that has been developed for the SDM MIMO system. This property of fast QRD makes our TSA very attractive for the layered Alamouti STBC MIMO system combined with the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing. Our new BCGR based approach can also be applied to the hybrid Alamouti STBC MIMO system, which is also a system with equivalent channel matrix consisting of Alamouti sub-blocks.