Quantization and fixed-point arithmetic for MIMO MMSE-IC linear turbo-equalization

In digital communication applications, floating-point arithmetic is generally used to conduct performance evaluation studies of new proposed algorithms. This is typically limited to theoretical performance evaluation in terms of communication quality and error rates. For a practical implementation perspective, using fixed-point arithmetic instead of floating-point reduces significantly the costs in terms of area occupation and energy consumption. However, this implies a complex conversion process, particularly if the considered algorithm includes complex arithmetic operations with high accuracy requirements and if the target system presents many configuration parameters. In this context, the purpose of the paper is to investigate the influence on error rate performance related to the implementation of minimum mean-squared error (MMSE) linear turbo-equalization algorithm for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems utilizing fixed-point rather than floating-point arithmetic.