Performance analysis and design optimization of LDPC-coded MIMO OFDM systems

We consider the performance analysis and design optimization of low-density parity check (LDPC) coded multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems for high data rate wireless transmission. The tools of density evolution with mixture Gaussian approximations are used to optimize irregular LDPC codes and to compute minimum operational signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) for ergodic MIMO OFDM channels. In particular, the optimization is done for various MIMO OFDM system configurations, which include a different number of antennas, different channel models, and different demodulation schemes; the optimized performance is compared with the corresponding channel capacity. It is shown that along with the optimized irregular LDPC codes, a turbo iterative receiver that consists of a soft maximum a posteriori (MAP) demodulator and a belief-propagation LDPC decoder can perform within 1 dB from the ergodic capacity of the MIMO OFDM systems under consideration. It is also shown that compared with the optimal MAP demodulator-based receivers, the receivers employing a low-complexity linear minimum mean-square-error soft-interference-cancellation (LMMSE-SIC) demodulator have a small performance loss (< 1dB) in spatially uncorrelated MIMO channels but suffer extra performance loss in MIMO channels with spatial correlation. Finally, from the LDPC profiles that already are optimized for ergodic channels, we heuristically construct small block-size irregular LDPC codes for outage MIMO OFDM channels; as shown from simulation results, the irregular LDPC codes constructed here are helpful in expediting the convergence of the iterative receivers.