Integer-Forcing architectures for MIMO: Distributed implementation and SIC

Linear receivers are often used in multiple-antenna systems due to ease of implementation. However, traditional linear receivers such as the Decorrelator and the linear minimum-mean squared error (MMSE) receiver often have a significant performance loss compared to the optimal joint maximum likelihood (ML) receiver. In previous work, we proposed the Integer-Forcing linear receiver, which bridges the rate gap between traditional linear receivers and the joint ML receiver at the cost of some additional signal processing. In this paper, we examine a distributed implementation of the Integer-Forcing architecture where the front-end linear receiver is eliminated. This reduces the signal processing complexity at the receiver side and allows for distribution in the MIMO system. Our results show that although this distributedness does come at a price in performance, the Integer-Forcing architecture still achieves both rate and diversity gains over traditional linear architectures. We also propose the use of Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC) in the Integer-Forcing Linear Receiver.