Reduced-state BCJR-type algorithms

We propose a technique to reduce the number of trellis states in BCJR-type algorithms, i.e., algorithms. with a structure similar to that of the well-known algorithm by Bahl, Cocke, Jelinek, and Raviv (1974). This work is inspired by reduced-state sequence detection (RSSD). The key idea is the construction, during one of the recursions in the reduced-state trellis, of a “survivor map” to be used in the other recursion. In a more general setting, two distinct survivor maps could be determined in the two recursions and used jointly to approximate the a posteriori probabilities. Three examples of application to iterative decoding are shown: (1) coherent detection for intersymbol interference (ISI) channels; (2) noncoherent detection based on an algorithm previously proposed by the authors; and (3) detection based on linear prediction for Rayleigh fading channels. As in classical RSSD, the proposed algorithm allows significant state-complexity reduction with limited performance degradation.