Chip-locked space-time filtering for maximizing SINR in asynchronous DS-CDMA systems

This paper considers a chip-locked space-time (CLST) filtering technique for direct-sequence code-division multiple access (DS-CDMA) systems. CLST filtering exploits the knowledge of the multiple access interference (MAI) chip delays, as well as the fact that the MAI spectrum is colored in the time and space domains. Chip delays of interferers from the same cell as the desired user are available at the base station and can be used to improve performance of single-user receivers. CLST filtering reduces MAI through joint optimization of spatio-temporal filtering and exploitation of chip delays of locked interference, without the need of interferers spreading codes. A significant improvement in signal-to-interference plus noise ratio can be achieved through CLST filtering with respect to the case when the interference is unlocked. The capabilities of CLST filtering to suppress chip-delay-locked interference improves with increasing chip waveform excess bandwidth. Numerical results show that CLST filtering already provides significant performance gains with square-root raised cosine chip pulses of small excess bandwidth. Furthermore, it is also shown that CLST filtering for a long observation interval is suitable for DS-CDMA systems employing long sequence spreading.