Bell Laboratories Layered Space-Time Research Articles

Approaching the MIMO Capacity with a Low-Rate Feedback Channel in V-BLAST

This paper presents an extension of the vertical Bell Laboratories Layered Space-Time (V-BLAST) architecture in which the closed-loop multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) capacity can be approached with conventional scalar coding, optimum successive decoding (OSD), and independent rate assignments for each transmit antenna. This theoretical framework is used as a basis for the proposed algorithms whereby rate and power information for each transmit antenna is acquired via a low-rate feedback channel. We propose the successive quantization with power control (SQPC) and successive rate and power quantization (SRPQ) algorithms. In SQPC, rate quantization is performed with continuous power control. This performs better than simply quantizing the rates without power control. A more practical implementation of SQPC is SRPQ, in which both rate and power levels are quantized. The performance loss due to power quantization is insignificant when 4-5 bits are used per antenna. Both SQPC and SRPQ show an average total rate close to the closed-loop MIMO capacity if a capacity-approaching scalar code is used per antenna.

A new class of soft mimo demodulation algorithms

We propose a new class of soft-input soft-output demodulation schemes for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channels, based on the sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) framework under both stochastic and deterministic settings. The stochastic SMC sampler generates MIMO symbol samples based on importance sampling and resampling techniques, whereas the deterministic SMC approach recursively performs exploration and selection steps in a greedy manner. By exploiting the artificial sequential structure of the existing simple Bell-Labs layered space-time (BLAST) detection method based on nulling and cancellation, the proposed algorithms achieve an error probability performance that is orders of magnitude better than the traditional BLAST detection schemes while maintaining a low computational complexity. In fact, the new methods offer performance comparable with that of the sphere decoding algorithm without attendant increase in complexity. More importantly, being soft-input soft-output in nature, both the stochastic and deterministic SMC detectors can be employed as the first-stage demodulator in a turbo receiver in coded MIMO systems. Such a turbo receiver successively improves the receiver performance by iteratively exchanging the so-called extrinsic information between the soft outer channel decoder and the inner soft MIMO demodulator under both known channel state and unknown channel state scenarios. Computer simulation results are provided to demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithms.

Spatial multiplexing with transmit antenna and constellation selection for correlated mimo fading channels

We consider spatial multiplexing systems in correlated multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) fading channels with equal power allocated to each transmit antenna. Under this constraint, the number and subset of transmit antennas together with the transmit symbol constellations are determined assuming knowledge of the channel correlation matrices. We first consider a fixed data rate system and vary the number of transmit antennas and constellation such that the minimum margin in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is maximized for linear and Vertical Bell Laboratories Layered Space-Time (V-BLAST) receivers. We also derive transmit antenna and constellation selection criteria for a successive interference cancellation receiver (SCR) with a fixed detection order and a variable number of bits transmitted on each substream. Compared with a system using all available antennas, performance results show significant gains using a subset of transmit antennas, even for independent fading channels. Finally, we select a subset of transmit antennas to maximize data rate given a minimum SNR margin. A lower bound on the maximum outage data rate is derived. The maximum outage data rate of the SCR receiver is seen to be close to the outage channel capacity.

New transmit schemes and simplified receivers for mimo wireless communication systems

In this paper, optimized transmit schemes for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems with simplified receivers are proposed for the downlink of high-speed wireless communication systems. In these systems, MIMO signal preprocessing is performed at the transmitter or base station with the receiver at the mobile station having a simplified structure that requires only limited signal processing. An important potential application for our transmit MIMO techniques is in the downlink of high-speed wireless communication systems with Vertical Bell Laboratories Layered Space-Time (V-BLAST) or a similar technique utilized in the uplink, creating a high-speed duplex system with a simplified mobile station transceiver structure. Two approaches are introduced and these depend on whether or not receive diversity is employed at the receiver. Both methods require that channel state information be available at the transmitter. In addition, some important associated issues such as peak-to-average power ratio requirements at the transmitter and robustness to downlink channel errors are also investigated and various solutions are proposed. Simulation results are provided and these show that performance improvement can be achieved when compared with other MIMO transmit schemes.

A fast recursive algorithm for optimum sequential signal detection in a BLAST system

Bell Laboratories layered space-time (BLAST) wireless systems are multiple-antenna communication schemes that can achieve very high spectral efficiencies in scattering environments with no increase in bandwidth or transmitted power. The most popular and, by far, the most practical architecture is the so-called vertical BLAST (V-BLAST). The signal detection algorithm of a V-BLAST system is computationally very intensive. If the number of transmitters is M and is equal to the number of receivers, this complexity is proportional to M/sup 4/ at each sample time. We propose a very simple and efficient algorithm that reduces the complexity by a factor of M.

Estimation of continuous flat fading MIMO channels

Multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) systems can provide high data rate wireless services in a rich scattering environment. We study one of the proposals for MIMO systems, the Bell Labs Layered Space-Time (BLAST) architecture. Channel estimation using training sequences is required for coherent detection in BLAST. We apply the maximum-likelihood channel estimator and the optimal training sequences for block flat fading channels to continuous flat fading channels and analyze the estimation error. The optimal training length and training interval that maximize the throughput for a given target bit error-rate are found by computer simulations as functions of the Doppler frequency and the number of antennas.

Turbo-BLAST for wireless communications: theory and experiments

Turbo-BLAST is a novel multitransmit multireceive (MTMR) antenna scheme for high-throughput wireless communications. It exploits the following ideas: the Bell Labs layered space time (BLAST) architecture; random layered space-time (RLST) coding scheme by using independent block codes and random space-time interleaving; sub-optimal turbo-like receiver that performs iterative decoding of the RLST codes and estimation of the channel matrix in an iterative and, most important, simple fashion. The net result is a new transceiver that is not only computationally efficient compared with the optimal maximum likelihood decoder, but it also yields a probability of error performance that is orders of magnitude smaller than traditional BLAST schemes for the same operating conditions. This paper also presents experimental results using real-life indoor channel measurements demonstrating the high-spectral efficiency of turbo-BLAST.

Multiple antennas in cellular CDMA systems: transmission, detection, and spectral efficiency

Providing wireless high-speed packet data services for Web browsing and streaming multimedia applications will be a key feature in future code-division multiple-access (CDMA) systems. We study down-link CDMA schemes for providing such services using multiple antennas at the transmitter and receiver. We propose a generalization of the point-to-point narrowband Bell Labs layered space-time (BLAST) system to a wideband multiple access system which simultaneously supports multiple users through code spreading. We discuss transmission options for achieving transmit diversity and spatial separation and introduce a generalization of the vertical BLAST detector for CDMA signals. Using link level simulations, we determine the bit-error rates versus signal-to-interference ratio of the various transmitter options. We then describe a novel technique for determining the system spectral efficiency (measured in bits per second per Hertz per cell sector) by incorporating the link level results with system level outage simulations. Using four antennas at the transmitter and eight antennas at each receiver, the system can support multiple receivers at 16 times the voice rate, resulting in a system spectral efficiency an order magnitude higher than a conventional single-antenna voice system.

Outdoor BLAST measurement system at 2.44 GHz: calibration and initial results

There are ever increasing demands for additional capacity in wireless communications to handle voice, data, and wideband Internet applications. These demands are constrained by the bandwidth that was allocated to wireless communications. The spectral efficiencies in present day wireless systems hover around 1 bit/s/Hz. Bell-labs Layered Space-Time (BLAST) is a communication technique for achieving very high spectral efficiencies in highly scattering environments using multiple transmit and receive antennas. A measurement campaign was undertaken to assess the BLAST gains in spectral efficiency in the suburban outdoor environment for stationary subscribers. The measurements employed directive antennas to better control interference from adjacent cells. The measurements were performed over a narrow band at 2.44 GHz with five transmitting and seven receiving antennas, respectively. Extensive calibration methods, assisted by simulations, were developed to assure accurate results for the BLAST capacities of the measured remote subscriber sites. Initial results indicate that BLAST capacities of C/sub B//spl ges/38 bits/s/Hz at 20% of the measured locations and C/sub B//spl ges/24 bits/s/Hz at 50% of these locations are feasible, for reasonable link parameters and negligible interference.

Multiple Antenna Enhancements for a High Rate CDMA Packet Data System

A High Data Rate (HDR) system has been proposed for providing downlink wireless packet service by using a channel-aware scheduling algorithm to transmit to users in a time-division multiplexed manner. In this paper, we propose using multiple antennas at the transmitter and/or at the receiver to improve performance of an HDR system. We consider the design tradeoffs between scheduling and multi-antenna transmission/detection strategies and investigate the average Shannon capacity throughput as a function of the number of antennas assuming ideal channel estimates and rate feedback. The highest capacities are achieved using multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver. For such systems, the best performance is achieved using a multi-input multi-output capacity-achieving transmission scheme such as BLAST (Bell Labs Layered Space-Time) in which the transmitted signal is coded in space and time, and the receive antennas are used to resolve the spatial interference. In the second part of the paper, we discuss practical transmitter and receiver architectures using BLAST for approaching the theoretical gains promised by the capacity analysis. Because the terminal receivers will be portable devices with limited computational and battery power, we perform a computational complexity analysis of the receiver and make high-level assessments on its feasibility. We conclude that the overall computational requirements are within the reach of current hardware technology.