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.