Application of distributed signal detection to multiuser communication systems

Distributed signal detection is extended to multiuser scenarios. Optimum decision rules for cooperating receivers are found for the jointly optimum criterion and the individually optimum criterion. Numerical results show that distributed systems achieve nearly centralized performance using only one or two-bit descriptions of the preliminary decisions. Moreover, distributed signal detection can be helpful in lessening the severity of the near-far problem when full multiuser detection is impractical. To further reduce the complexity, a suboptimum approach which employs linear multiuser detectors at its front end is investigated. The investigated suboptimum approach is shown to achieve considerable improvement over an alternate suboptimum approach that attempts to minimize distortion.