AbstractsComputer Science

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas can be exploited to provide high data rate using a limited bandwidth through multiplexing gain. MIMO combined with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) could potentially provide high data rate and high spectral efficiency in frequency-selective fading channels. MIMO-OFDM technology has been widely employed in modern communication systems, such as Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX). However, most of the conventional schemes either are computationally prohibitive or underutilize the full performance gain provided by the inherent merits of MIMO and OFDM techniques. In the first part of this dissertation, we firstly study the channel matrix inversion which is commonly required in various MIMO detection schemes. An algorithm that exploits second-order extrapolation in the time domain is proposed to efficiently reduce the computational complexity. This algorithm can be applied to both linear detection and non-linear detection such as ordered successive interference cancellation (OSIC) while maintaining the system performance. Secondly, we study the complexity reduction for Lattice Reduction Aided Detection (LRAD) of MIMO-OFDM systems. We propose an algorithm that exploits the inherent feature of unimodular transformation matrix that remains the same for relatively highly correlated frequency components. This algorithm effectively eliminates the redundant brute-force lattice reduction iterations among adjacent subcarriers. Thirdly, we analyze the impact of channel coherence bandwidth on two LRAD algorithms. Analytical and simulation results demonstrate that carefully setting the initial calculation interval according to the coherence bandwidth is essential for both algorithms. The second part of this dissertation focuses on efficient multi-user (MU) scheduling and coordination for the uplink of WLAN that uses MIMO-OFDM techniques. On one hand, conventional MU-MIMO medium access control (MAC) protocols require large overhead, which lowers the performance gain of concurrent transmissions rendered by the multi-packet reception (MPR) capability of MIMO systems. Therefore, an efficient MU-MIMO uplink MAC scheduling scheme is proposed for future WLAN. On the other hand, single-user (SU) MIMO achieves multiplexing gain in the physical (PHY) layer and MU-MIMO achieves multiplexing gain in the MAC layer. In addition, the average throughput of the system varies depending on the number of antennas and users, average payload sizes, and signal-to-noise-ratios (SNRs). A comparison on the performance between SU-MIMO and MU-MIMO schemes for WLAN uplink is hence conducted. Simulation results indicate that a dynamic switch between the SU-MIMO and MU-MIMO is of significance for higher network throughput of WLAN uplink.