Modified Golden Codes for Improved Error Rates through Low Complex Sphere Decoder

In recent years, the golden codes have proven to exhibit a superior performance in a wireless MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) scenario than any other code. However, a serious limitation associated with it is its increased decoding complexity. This paper attempts to resolve this challenge through suitable modification of golden code such that a less complex sphere decoder could be used without much compromising the error rates. In this paper, a minimum polynomial equation is introduced to obtain a reduced golden ratio (RGR) number for golden code which demands only for a low complexity decoding procedure. One of the attractive approaches used in this paper is that the effective channel matrix has been exploited to perform a single symbol wise decoding instead of grouped symbols using a sphere decoder with tree search algorithm. It has been observed that the low decoding complexity of O (q 1.5 ) is obtained against conventional method of O (q 2.5 ). Simulation analysis envisages that in addition to reduced decoding, improved error rates is also obtained.