Approximate Minimum Bit Error Rate Equalization for Fading Channels

A novel channel equalizer algorithm is introduced for wireless communication systems to combat channel distortions resulting from multipath propagation. The novel algorithm is based on minimizing the bit error rate (BER) using a fast approximation of its gradient with respect to the equalizer coefficients. This approximation is obtained by estimating the exponential summation in the gradient with only some carefully chosen dominant terms. The paper derives an algorithm to calculate these dominant terms in real-time. Summing only these dominant terms provides a highly accurate approximation of the true gradient. Combined with a fast adaptive channel state estimator, the new equalization algorithm yields better performance than the traditional zero forcing (ZF) or minimum mean square error (MMSE) equalizers. The performance of the new method is tested by simulations performed on standard wireless channels. From the performance analysis one can infer that the new equalizer is capable of efficient channel equalization and maintaining a relatively low bit error probability in the case of channels corrupted by frequency selectivity. Hence, the new algorithm can contribute to ensuring QoS communication over highly distorted channels.