An MIMO-OFDM Technique for High-speed Mobile Channels

*Kyung Won Park, *Eun Sun Choi, **Kyung Hi Chang, and *Yong So0 Cho *School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Chung-Ang Univ., Seoul 156-756, KOREA **Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, Taejon 305-600, KOREA Email: yscho@cau.ac.kr

Absrmcr-In this paper, U new orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) technique for multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) channels is proposed to reduce interchannel interference (ICI) caused by high-speed mobiles in cellular environments. After a closed-form of bit ermr n t e (BER) is derived for MIMO-OFDM systems, the IC1 caused by highspeed mobile channels is analyzed using a simple m e fining technique. Then, a new MIMO-OFDM technique, based on the result of the leakage pattern of IC1 in the frequency-domain, i s proposed for reducing IC1 caused by time-varying channels. Performances of the proposed technique is veri6ed by using the I. METRA channel, proposed for an MIMO channel to SGPP, and an MIMO-OFDM simulator designed for maaocelluar mobile communication. It is shown by computer simulation that the pmposed MIMO-OFDM technique is effective in reducing IC1 and noise as well as in obtaining diversitv eain even under hiehlvcorrelated fast fading channels, compaml with the conventional MIMO-OFDM schemes.
~

11. A SIMPLE ANALYSIS OF IC1 CAUSED BY TIME-VARYING CHANNELS

Assuming that the multipath fading channel under consideration consists of P discrete paths, the received baseband OFDM signal after FFT can be written as

~ ( k= )

._

~~

where N and n , denote the number of subcarriers and the time delay of the p-th path, respectively. Also, H p ( k ) and I(k) represent the frequency response of a time-variant channel, hp(n),and the IC1 caused by the time-variant channel, respectively. Here, H p ( k ) and I(k) are given by
N-1

(:::

H,(0)e-jzrn.'IN

)x ( L - ) + I ( ~ ) + w ( ~ )
(I)

H p ( k )= N
I. INTRODUCTION In recent years, orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) for multiple-input multiple output channels (MIMOOFDM) has been received a great deal of attention due to its potential of achieving high data rates. So far, most of studies concerning MIMO-OFDM have focused on slowly fading channels. However, in order to support a full mobility in macrocellular environments, the time variation of a fading channel over an OFDM block must be considered since it causes a loss of subchannel otthogonality, leading to interchanne1 interference (ICI). In the previous paper, the frequencydomain equalization technique for single-input single-output (SISO) OFDM systems was proposed to compensate for the effect of channel variation in time-variant multipath channels[l]. However, this technique requires a time-domain pilot signal at the end of every OFDM symbol to estimate channel variation during an OFDM block period. In this paper, after deriving a closed-form formula of bit error ratio (BFX) for MIMO-OFDM and analyzing the ICI caused by high-speed mobiles, we propose a new MIMOOFDM technique, requiring neither pilot signals nor a priori information on mobile channels, in order to reduce the IC1 as well as to obtain diversity gain.

hp(n)e-J2=LnIN
"=O

(2)

If the channel is time-invariant during a symbol period, the term in the right-hand side of (1) contains only the multiplicative distortion, which can be easily compensated by a one-tap frequency-domain equalizer. However, in fast fading channels, the time variation of a fading channel over an OFDM symbol period causes a loss of suhchannel orthogonality, resulting in an error floor that increases with the speed of the vehicle[l]. The time-variant channel within an OFDM block can be approximated by a D-th order polynomial function as follows:
D

h,(n)=xap,dnd+bp,
d=l

n = 0 , 1 , ...,N - 1 (4)

Here, the parameters. ap,d and bp, can be found by solving the least-square equation. Then, the frequency responseAoft h e approximated time-variant channel up to 2-nd order, hp(n), can be obtained as

Hi(k) =

$(,.)+a,,2

H~fO)+a,,zfN-I)(ZN-1)/6. f m L=O (N-2)c-j'" *IN-N )1 , forl<L<N-1

( ~ - ~ -k i! k N

(5)

0.7m3.7757-5/03/Sl7.00 a 0 0 3

Ea.

980

where f I k ( k ) represents the frequency response of the approximated time-variant channel of I-st order, and is given by

The above equation (5) shows the approximate effect of IC1 caused by a fast fading channel. If the channel is time-invariant during an OFDM symbol period, i.e., a,,> = ap,l = 0, there exists no IC1 since Hp(k)=O for k # 0. However, in the case where the channel is time-variant within a symbol period, i.e., ap,z # 0 or ap.l # 0, the leakage signals are distributed over all other subcarriers, resulting in ICI. From (1) and (5). one can see that the frequency response of a time-valying channel is equivalent to the Fourier transform of the averaged channel in the time domain as follows:

where pb(y), given by a Q ( f i ) . represents the BER for static situation where a and p are variable parameters depending on the modulation scheme. Also, p is given by ,/pyo/(Pyo+Z). Analytic BER for M branch MRRCOFDM can be computed f" (9) by setting L = 1 and 6, = 1. In this paper, it is shown that the analytic result in (9) agrees well with Monte-Carlo simulation results for various modulation schemes.

B. An MIMO-OFDM Technique for lime-Varying Channel

P-1

H(k) =
p=O

H,,(0)eCj2""pk/N

The IC1 reduction technique for MIMO-OFDM systems, derived in this paper, are based on the result of analysis regarding the leakage pattern of IC1 in the frequency-domain, given in (5). Since the IC1 term generated by the (IC)-th subcarrier is similar to the one generated by the (k 1)th subcarrier with an opposite sign, the IC1 can be reduced significantly by appropriately assigning transmission data onto G adjacent subcarriers as follows:

S(G.g+i)=a,-,,X(g),

i=0, l,...,G-l

(10)

where S(G . g + i) and G(= G L + G R + 1) denote the ith subcarrier of the g-th subcarrier group and the size of a MIMO techniques in time-varying channels, we'll use the subcarrier group, respectively. If the channel state information above equation (7) for a perfect channel. is known at the transmitter, the optimal value of the weighting factor, a i - ~ rcan r be easily found. If it is not the case, 111. AN MIMO-OFDM TECHNIQUE FOR HIGH-SPEED the weighting factor can be found by using the polynomial MOBILE CHANNELS coefficients as follows: In this section, after deriving a BER for MMO-OFDM, we propose a new MIMO-OFDM technique, requiring neither pilot signals nor a priori information on mobile channels, in Fig. I shows a SFBC-OFDM scheme employing 2 transmit order to reduce the IC1 as well as to obtain diversity gain. antennas and a receive antenna. Also, in this figure, data A. A Bit-Ermr Pmbabiliry for M MIMO-OFDM assignment scheme onto subcarriers s shown as follows: In this section, the closed-form formula of BER for MIMOX z ( 2 g ) = - X ; ( 2 9 + 1); XZ(29 1) = X;(Zg) (12) OFDM is derived under the assumption that channel does no1

In the process of verifiog the performances of various

change during an OFDM symbol period. For an flat fading MIMO channel with L transmit antennas and M receive antennas, the S N R distribution of thc received signal aftei maximal ratio combining is given by p(y)= ToLMyLM-le-7/m / W M )

This technique can be applied to any MIMO-OFDM systems employing transmit diversity, receive diversity, and spacetime coding. The& transmission data assigned onto two adjacent subcarriers at the j-th transmit antenna is given by ~ ~ ( 2= 9) Xj(g); Sj(2g+1) = a X j ( g ) , f o r j = 0,1 (13) where a denotes the weighting factor. The value of a is set to - I for data subcarriers, whereas the absolute value of a is set to the one less than I for pilot subcarriers. In this scheme, the received OFDM signal is given by
N/2-1

(8)

where ^fo is given by Zo2G,(Et,/NO)/L. Here, yo and 6, denote the average S N R of each branch and the coding gain, respectively, obtained by orthogonal design of SFBC or STBC scheme. r(.) represents Gamma-function. By solving the integral equation for Rayleigh fading channel, the conditional bit-error probability of the MIMO-OFDM is derived as

Y(2g 4- i) =

g ~ , ~ 2(g ( m, m) -ti ) X i ( m )
m=O NIB-1

+
m-0

E?2,p(m,2(9- m) + i ) X z ( m )

+W(29 i), g=O,...,N/Z-l;

i=O,l

(14)

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the above equation (16) can be combined as

xl(9)=(Ifll(s)I~+ I % b ) 1 2 )
+ f i z ( g ) I N * ( g 1)
(a) A simple block diagram

xl(g) +ri;(g)IN(g)

(20)

Tx ant.
#I
0 ,

TTIITT
2 ,

...

TI,

8&7+l ) = ( I A l ( s ) l ~ + l ~ ~ ( S ) I ~ ) X l ( g + 1 ) -Ei1(g)IN'k? + 1) + m ; ( S ) I N ( g ) (21)

where I N ( g ) denotes f1(g) &(g) N ( g ) . In summary, the proposed SFBC-OFDM scheme compensates the IC1 effect caused by fast fading channels, as given by (14) and (16). at the expense of transmission rate reduction by half, and obtains a diversity gain plus noise averaging effect, as given by (20) and (21). The proposed scheme has advantages of not requiring any pilot signals or tracking of channel variation, unlike the one in [I]. However, since the proposed scheme was derived under the assumption that the channel coefficients between adjacent suhcaniers are approximately identical. it is suitable for OFDM systems where the subcarrier group spacing is narrower than the channel coherent bandwidth. Although the proposed technique is derived, here, only for the SFBC-OFDMcase, similar results are obtained for STBC-OFDM, SFTC-OFDM, and MRRC-OFDM cases. IV. SIMULATION RESULTS

l"h.m,

(b) Data assignment

Fig. 1. A simple block diagram of 2TdIRr SFBC-OFDM sheme for reducing IC1 caused by time-vqing channel

where &j,p(m) is defined as

In this section, the performances of the proposed MIMOOFDM scheme is compared with the conventional MIMOOFDM schemes. The bandwidth used for downlink channel is 20 MHz at 2 GHz with a sampling frequency equal to 25 MHz (oversampling ratio=1.25). Also, the guard interval s . and OFDM symbol period are set to 18.08 ps and 81.92 j respectively, for macrocellular environments, implying that the total number of subcarriers is 2048 including virtual canien. Fig. 2(a) shows a sample function of the channel and the approximated channel. given by ( 5 ) and (6). over an OFDM symbol period when the terminal is moving a l the speed of 250k". Also, Fig. 2(b) shows the corresponding frequencydomain responses of the channels when 6(k) is applied for the input of IFFT.Note that the approximated ICI, obtained by (5). is almost identical with the actual ICI, even at very high mobility. The performances of the proposed techniques are verified by using the I-METRA channel, proposed for an MIMO channel to 3GPP. and an MIMO-OFDM simulator designed for macrocelluar mobile communication [ 5 ] . Two IMETRA MIMO channels are used for simulation: (1) Case A corresponds to a flat Rayleigh fading channel with no correlations between antennas, (2) Case B corresponds to a typical urban macro cellular channel with 4 paths. The parameters associated with Case B are as follows: 22.5" angleof-arrival (AOA), uniform power azimuth spectrum (PAS) over 360" for UE, 20" AOA and Laplacian PAS with 22.5" azimuth spread (AS) for BS. Fig. 3 shows downlink performance comparison between the conventional SFBC-OFDM scheme a n d the proposed one when 2 transmit and 1 receive antennas are used at BS and UE, respectively. From Fig. 3, one can

where Hj,,(m) represents the single-tone frequency response of the p t h time-variant channel between the j-th transmit antenna and receive antenna. Then, the received signals at the (29 1)-th subcarrier and (29)-th subcarrier are added as follows:

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(a) time-domain

I.......

:..

, . . . ; ......,..

..:

.... .,..

. . ..., ...... I

m
Ewm

(b) frequency-domain Fig. 2. Time- and frequency-domain charaeletislics of a lime-variant channel Fig 3 BER performances of channels

(b) Care B
various

SFBC-OFDM schemes for fast fading

s e e . that the conventional SFBC-OFDM scheme exhibits error floor ohenomenon due to IC1 caused by the mobile at the speedbf 250K". Notice that the proposed scheme not only
overcomes the error floor phenomenon but also gains about 3dB,compared with the analytic result in (9). due to the effects of noise averaging and IC1 combining. Fig. 3(h) shows BER performances of SFBC-OFDM schemes for Case B where lransmit antennas are correlated and channel is frequencyselective. In this case, the envelop correlations of BS and UE are given by 0.976 and 0.1023, respectively. From Fig. 3, one can conclude that the proposed scheme achieves robust performance gain for the same data rate, even under highlycorrelated fast fading channels.

REFERENCES
[I] W.G. leon. K.H. Chang. and Y . S . Cha. "An Equalization Technique for OFDM Systems in Time-Vadnt Multipath Channels:' IEEE Tmn. on
Conununicarionr. Vol. 47, No. 1. pp. 27-32. Jam 1999. [2] S. M. Alamouti, "A simple transminer diversity scheme for wireless communications," IEEE 3. Lkct. Areas C o n " , Vol. 16. No. 8. pp.

1451-1458. on.1998. [31 V. Tamkh. N. Seshadri, and A.R. CalderbanL, "Space-tims ccdes for high data rate wirclcss communication: performanee criterion and code construction." IEEE Tmn. om Infomrion 7hheory. Vol. 44, No. 2, pp. 744-765. Mar 1998. I41 A. F. Naguib. N. Seshadti, and A.R. Calderbmk, "Space-time coding and signal proeasing for high dam rate wireless communications:' IEEE Sigwf Processing Mogozine. Vol. 17. No. 3, pp. 7692, May 2wO. [SI EST1 Tech. Repon, "Multiple-Input Multiple Output an ten^ Processing for HSDPA:' TR 25.876, v1.0.1,2oM.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT The result of ET project IST-2000-30148 I-METRA is used

for simulation.

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