Large-Scale MIMO Detection for 3GPP LTE: Algorithms and FPGA Implementations

Large-scale (or massive) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) is expected to be one of the key technologies in next-generation multi-user cellular systems, based on the upcoming 3GPP LTE Release 12 standard, for example. In this work, we propose - to the best of our knowledge - the first VLSI design enabling high-throughput data detection in single-carrier frequency-division multiple access (SC-FDMA)-based large-scale MIMO systems. We propose a new approximate matrix inversion algorithm relying on a Neumann series expansion, which substantially reduces the complexity of linear data detection. We analyze the associated error, and we compare its performance and complexity to those of an exact linear detector. We present corresponding VLSI architectures, which perform exact and approximate soft-output detection for large-scale MIMO systems with various antenna/user configurations. Reference implementation results for a Xilinx Virtex-7 XC7VX980T FPGA show that our designs are able to achieve more than 600 Mb/s for a 128 antenna, 8 user 3GPP LTE-based large-scale MIMO system. We finally provide a performance/complexity trade-off comparison using the presented FPGA designs, which reveals that the detector circuit of choice is determined by the ratio between BS antennas and users, as well as the desired error-rate performance.Comment: To appear in the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Signal Processin

Lessons learned from the design of a mobile multimedia system in the Moby Dick project

Recent advances in wireless networking technology and the exponential development of semiconductor technology have engendered a new paradigm of computing, called personal mobile computing or ubiquitous computing. This offers a vision of the future with a much richer and more exciting set of architecture research challenges than extrapolations of the current desktop architectures. In particular, these devices will have limited battery resources, will handle diverse data types, and will operate in environments that are insecure, dynamic and which vary significantly in time and location. The research performed in the MOBY DICK project is about designing such a mobile multimedia system. This paper discusses the approach made in the MOBY DICK project to solve some of these problems, discusses its contributions, and accesses what was learned from the project