Analytical exit functions for the performance evaluation of iterative MIMO receivers with channel estimation error

Analytical extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) functions provide an accurate and flexible method to analyze and calculate the performance of iterative linear multiple input-multiple output (MIMO) receivers through their decomposition into independent elementary blocks, such as the linear combiner or the demapper. These analytical functions have been shown to be very accurate to evaluate the performance of linear MIMO receivers with perfect channel knowledge in Rayleigh-fading channels. This contribution extends this analysis to MIMO receivers with channel estimation, deriving new analytical transfer functions and adapting the performance evaluation algorithm. Bit error rate (BER) results are provided for training-based and soft decision directed expectation-maximization (EM) channel estimation techniques, showing the validity and accuracy of this analysis method.