Capacity-based performance comparison of MIMO-BICM demodulators

This paper provides a performance comparison of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) demodulators for bit-interleaved coded modulation (BICM) systems with non-iterative demodulation and decoding. We propose to use the capacity of an equivalent ldquomodulationrdquo channel as a performance measure that has the advantage of not depending on the outer error correcting code. Based on this approach, we conclude that a universal ranking of MIMO (soft and hard) demodulation algorithms is not possible. This result is confirmed via bit error rate simulations for a practical system involving low-density parity-check codes. Our approach also allows to derive practical guidelines for MIMO-BICM system design.