MIMO Wireless Communication

Wireless communication is playing a role of ever-increasing importance in our everyday lives. The need for higher data rates within the confines of limited spectrum allocation has motivated the investigation of high-spectral-efficiency communication. These communication links are often in non-line-of-sight complicated multipath environments.
Wireless communication using multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems enables increased achievable spectral efficiency and reliability for a given total transmit power. The increased capacity is achieved through the introduction of antenna arrays at both transmitter and receiver. These arrays are used to take advantage of the multiple spatial modes provided by the complicated multipath environment. Space-time coding describes the waveforms employed by MIMO systems to approach theoretical capacity.
In this talk, an introduction to MIMO communication is provided. Sensitivity of theoretical capacity to environmental variations is considered. These environmental factors include channel complexity, channel estimation errors, and external interference. Channel phenomenology and its effect on capacity is investigated, using both physical models and experimental data. Parametric techniques used to model the experimental results are also introduced. Performance results for space-time turbo coding techniques are presented as a function of channel characteristics and receiver design.

Dr. Daniel W. Bliss is a staff member at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in the Advanced Sensor Techniques group. Since 1997 he has been employed by MIT Lincoln Laboratory, where he focuses on multiantenna adaptive signal processing, primarily for communication systems. He also investigates parameter estimation techniques and bounds, primarily for geolocation. His current research topics include ultrawide bandwidth (UWB) communication, geolocation techniques using vector sensor arrays, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar concepts, algorithm development for multichannel multiuser detectors (MCMUD), MIMO communication channel phenomenology, and information theoretic bounds for MIMO communication systems.
Dan received his Ph.D. and M.S. in Physics from the University of California at San Diego (1997 and 1995), and his BSEE in Electrical Engineering from Arizona State University (1989). Employed by General Dynamics (1989-1991), he designed avionics for the Atlas-Centaur launch vehicle, and performed research and development of fault-tolerant avionics. As a member of the superconducting magnet group at General Dynamics (1991-1993), he performed magnetic field calculations and optimization for high-energy particle-accelerator superconducting magnets. His doctoral work (1993-1997) was in the area of high-energy particle physics, searching for bound states of gluons, studying the two-photon production of hadronic final states, and investigating innovative techniques for lattice-gauge-theory calculations.