Linear receivers for multi-cell MIMO transmission in LTE-advanced downlink

The LTE-A (Long Term Evolution Advanced) was ratified as 4G (fourth generation) standard. In order to achieve the target of the LTE-A, efficient receivers have become one of the hot research topics. In this paper, we study some common linear receivers in LTE-A DL (downlink). Focusing on the multi-cell network, we derive the receive matrices and review them. The contribution of this paper is to offer elementary knowledge and thorough derivation of the common linear receivers. The link level simulation results are provided to illustrate the comparison between these linear receivers. The equivalence of ZF (Zero-Force) and MRC (maximal ratio combining) receivers is presented by the simulation results. While the interference is strong at the objective UE (user equipment), the interference-aware receivers, such as MMSE (Minimum Mean Square) receiver and IRC (interference rejection combining) receiver, outperform ZF receiver and MRC receiver. The simulation results show that a maximum throughput gain of approximately 300% is achieved by the IRC receiver compared to the MRC receiver.