Multiuser multiple input multiple output (MIMO) communication is likely to become instrumental for future wireless communication networks due to limited frequency spectrum and increasing demand for high data rate and high quality services. Research on MIMO wireless communication has been going on for about a decade. Various MIMO signal processing methods and information theoretical results have been developed using simplified or idealized fading channel models. Relatively less work has been done for the transceiver design of MIMO communications over realistic fading channels, which usually undergo space-selective, time-selective, and frequency-selective fading. This realistic fading is referred to as triply selective fading. The triply selective fading contains doubly selective as a special case but it is not a trivial extension, especially in terms of capacity-based transceiver design.
The project investigates several key problems in multiuser MIMO communications over triply selective fading channels. First, it analyzes the effects of triply selective fading and its correlation matrices on the ergodic capacity, outage capacity, network throughput, and error performance of multiuser MIMO multiple access channels (MAC) to assist in the design of capacity-based transmission policies. Secondly, it designs a cooperative multiuser MIMO MAC transceiver that requires only the correlation matrices be provided to optimize transmission policies, and investigate the design methodology for aximizing capacity gains and system performances with low system complexity. Thirdly, it develops signal processing algorithms for the information capacity-based transceivers including single carrier and multi-carrier modulations, multiuser MIMO channel estimation, and multiuser MIMO channel equalization and detection. The research in these topics will provide viable solutions for the ergodic capacity and outage capacity of multiuser MIMO triply selective fading channels that have, to date, not been successfully addressed.
