Skip to main content
EURASIP Journal on Advances in Signal Processing
Download PDF
  • Research Article
  • Open access
  • Published:

A MIMO-OFDM Testbed for Wireless Local Area Networks

EURASIP Journal on Advances in Signal Processing volume 2006, Article number: 018083 (2006) Cite this article

Abstract

We describe the design steps and final implementation of a MIMO OFDM prototype platform developed to enhance the performance of wireless LAN standards such as HiperLAN/2 and 802.11, using multiple transmit and multiple receive antennas. We first describe the channel measurement campaign used to characterize the indoor operational propagation environment, and analyze the influence of the channel on code design through a ray-tracing channel simulator. We also comment on some antenna and RF issues which are of importance for the final realization of the testbed. Multiple coding, decoding, and channel estimation strategies are discussed and their respective performance-complexity trade-offs are evaluated over the realistic channel obtained from the propagation studies. Finally, we present the design methodology, including cross-validation of the Matlab, C++, and VHDL components, and the final demonstrator architecture. We highlight the increased measured performance of the MIMO testbed over the single-antenna system.

References

  1. Emre Telatar I: Capacity of multi-antenna Gaussian channels. European Transactions on Telecommunications 1999, 10(6):585–595. 10.1002/ett.4460100604

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  2. Foschini GJ, Gans MJ: On limits of wireless communications in a fading environment when using multiple antennas. Wireless Personal Communications 1998, 6(3):311–335. 10.1023/A:1008889222784

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Laspougeas P, Conrat J-M, Mayrargue S, Pajusco P: Single and dual multi-sensor channel characterisation in Indoor and Campus environments at 5 GHz. Proceedings of IST Mobile Communications Summit, September 2001, Barcelona, Spain

    Google Scholar 

  4. ETSI Normalization Committee : Channel models for HIPERLAN/2 in different indoor scenarios. Norm ETSI doc. 3ERI085B, European Telecommunications Standards Institute, Sophia-Antipolis, France, 1998

  5. Laspougeas P, Pajusco P, Bic J-C: Spatial radio channel model for UMTS in urban small cells area. Proceedings of European Conference on Wireless Technology (ECWT '00), October 2000, Paris, France 118–121.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Laspougeas P, Pajusco P, Bic J-C: Radio propagation in urban small cells environment at 2 GHz: experimental spatio-temporal characterization and spatial wideband channel model. Proceedings of 52nd IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC '00), September 2000, Boston, Mass, USA 2: 885–892.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Conrat J-M, Pajusco P: A versatile propagation channel simulator for MIMO link level simulation. COST 273 Project Report TD(03)120 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Erceg V, Schumacher L, Kyritsi P, et al.: IEEE P802.11 Wireless LANs: TGn Channel Models. IEEE 802.11 document 03/940r1, 2003

    Google Scholar 

  9. Chaigneaud L, Guillet V, Vauzelle R: A 3D ray-tracing tool for broadband wireless systems. Proceedings of IEEE VTS 54th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC '01), October 2001, Atlantic City, NJ, USA 4: 2043–2047.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Bölcskei H, Borgmann M, Paulraj AJ: Impact of the propagation environment on the performance of space-frequency coded MIMO-OFDM. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications 2003, 21(3):427–439. Special issue on MIMO systems and applications 10.1109/JSAC.2003.809723

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Gesbert D, Bölcskei H, Gore D, Paulraj AJ: MIMO wireless channels: capacity and performance prediction. Proceedings of IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference (GLOBECOM '00), November–December 2000, San Francisco, Calif, USA 2: 1083–1088.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Chizhik D, Foschini GJ, Gans MJ, Valenzuela RA: Keyholes, correlations, and capacities of multielement transmit and receive antennas. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications 2002, 1(2):361–368. 10.1109/7693.994830

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Visuri S, Slock DTM: Colocated antenna arrays: design desiderata for wireless communications. Proceedings of 2nd IEEE Sensor Array and Multichannel Signal Processing Workshop (SAM '02), August 2002, Rosslyn, Va, USA 580–584.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Alamouti SM: A simple transmit diversity technique for wireless communications. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications 1998, 16(8):1451–1458. 10.1109/49.730453

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Tirkkonen O, Boariu A, Hottinen A: Minimal non-orthogonality rate 1 space-time block code for 3+ Tx antennas. Proceedings of IEEE 6th International Symposium on Spread Spectrum Techniques and Applications, September 2000, Parsippany, NJ, USA 2: 429–432.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Wolniansky PW, Foschini GJ, Golden GD, Valenzuela RA: V-BLAST: an architecture for realizing very high data rates over the rich-scattering wireless channel. Proceedings of URSI International Symposium on Signals, Systems, and Electronics (ISSSE '98), September–October 1998, Pisa, Italy 295–300.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Guillaud M, Slock DTM: Full-rate full-diversity space-frequency coding for MIMO OFDM systems. Proceedings of 3rd IEEE Benelux Signal Processing Symposium (SPS '02), March 2002, Leuven, Belgium

    Google Scholar 

  18. Guillaud M, Slock DTM: Multi-stream coding for MIMO OFDM systems with space-time-frequency spreading. Proceedings of 5th International Symposium on Wireless Personal Multimedia Communications (WPMC '02), October 2002, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA 1: 120–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Boutros J, Gresset N, Brunel L: Turbo coding & decoding for multiple-antenna channels. Proceedings of 3rd International Symposium on Turbo Codes and Related Topics, September 2003, Brest, France 185–186.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Guillén i Fàbregas A, Caire G: Impact of signal constellation expansion on the achievable diversity in quasistatic multiple-antenna channels. Proceedings of 12th European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO '04), September 2004, Vienna, Austria

    Google Scholar 

  21. Guillén i Fàbregas A, Caire G: Design of space-time BICM codes for block fading channels with iterative decoding. In Proceedings of 37th Conference on Information Sciences and Systems (CISS '03), March 2003, Baltimore, Md, USA. Johns Hopkins University Press;

    Google Scholar 

  22. Biglieri E, Caire G, Taricco G: Limiting performance of block-fading channels with multiple antennas. IEEE Transactions on Information Theory 2001, 47(4):1273–1289. 10.1109/18.923715

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  23. Knopp R, Caire G: Power control and beamforming for systems with multiple transmit and receive antennas. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications 2002, 1(4):638–648. 10.1109/TWC.2002.804158

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Tarokh V, Jafarkhani H, Calderbank AR: Space-time block codes from orthogonal designs. IEEE Transactions on Information Theory 1999, 45(5):1456–1467. 10.1109/18.771146

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  25. Dias AR, Rouquette S, Gosse K: MTMR channel estimation and pilot design in the context of space-time block coded OFDM-based WLANs. Proceedings of IST Mobile and Wireless Telecommunications Summit, June 2002, Thessaloniki, Greece 73–77.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Slock DTM: Signal processing challenges for wireless communications. Proceedings of 1st International Symposium on Control, Communications and Signal Processing (ISCCSP '02), March 2004, Hammamet, Tunisia 881–892.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Telecommunications Research, University of South Australia, SPRI Building, Mawson Lakes Boulevard, Mawson Lakes, SA, 5095, Australia

    Albert Guilléni Fàbregas

  2. Eurécom Institute, 2229 Route des Crêtes, Sophia Antipolis, 06904, France

    Maxime Guillaud & Dirk TM Slock

  3. Electrical Engineering Department, University of Southern California, 3740, McClintock Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA

    Giuseppe Caire

  4. Motorola Labs, Centre de Recherche de Motorola, Espace Technologique Saint-Aubin, Gif-sur-Yvette, 91193, France

    Karine Gosse, Stéphanie Rouquette, Alexandre Ribeiro Dias, Philippe Bernardin & Xavier Miet

  5. France Telecom R&D, 3 avenue des Usines, Belfort, 90007, France

    Jean-Marc Conrat

  6. Antennessa, avenue la Perouse, Plouzane, 29280, France

    Yann Toutain

  7. École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications de Bretagne, Technopôle Brest-Iroise, Brest, 29238, France

    Alain Peden & Zaiqing Li

Authors
  1. Albert Guilléni Fàbregas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Maxime Guillaud
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Dirk TM Slock
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Giuseppe Caire
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Karine Gosse
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Stéphanie Rouquette
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Alexandre Ribeiro Dias
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Philippe Bernardin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Xavier Miet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Jean-Marc Conrat
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Yann Toutain
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Alain Peden
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Zaiqing Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Albert Guilléni Fàbregas.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fàbregas, A.G., Guillaud, M., Slock, D.T. et al. A MIMO-OFDM Testbed for Wireless Local Area Networks. EURASIP J. Adv. Signal Process. 2006, 018083 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1155/ASP/2006/18083

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1155/ASP/2006/18083

Keywords