Hardware Accelerator for MIMO Wireless Systems

Abstract

Ever increasing demand for higher data rates and better Quality of Service (QoS) for a growing number of users requires new transceiver algorithms and architectures to better exploit the available spectrum and to efficiently counter the impairments of the radio channel.

Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) communication systems employ multiple antennas at both transmitter and at the receiver to meet the requirements of next-generation wireless systems. It is a promising technology to provide increased data rates while not involving an equivalent increase in the spectral requirements. However, practical implementation of MIMO detectors poses a significant challenge and has been consistently identified as the major bottleneck for realizing the full potential that multiple antenna systems promise. Furthermore, in order to make judicious use of the available bandwidth, the baseband units have to dynamically adapt to different modes (modulation schemes, code rates etc) of operations. Flexibility and high throughput requirements often place conflicting demands on the Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) system designer. The major focus of this dissertation is to present efficient VLSI architectures for configurable MIMO detectors that can serve as accelerators to enable the realization of next generation wireless devices feasible. Both, hard output and soft output detector architectures are considered.