Performance comparison of OFDM and FDE single-carrier modulation for spatial multiplexing MIMO systems

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) signal processing combined with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is a widely accepted solution to achieve the high bit rates that new communication standards require in frequency-selective wireless channels. In recent years, a new frequency-domain equalized (FDE) cyclic-prefixed single-carrier (CPSC) block transmission system has been proven to achieve similar performance to OFDM for coded systems with the same overall complexity, avoiding its main drawbacks and becoming a candidate for future wireless standards. A FDE CPSC spatial multiplexing system is analyzed and compared to OFDM. The implementation of different frequency-domain MIMO equalization and detection schemes is evaluated. Simulation-based performance results prove the efficiency of FDE CPSC based spatial multiplexing systems and highlight that these transmission schemes can outperform OFDM in uncoded and high coding rate MIMO systems, as it has been shown in the literature for the SISO case.