Bayesian Monte Carlo multiuser receiver for space-time coded multicarrier CDMA systems

We consider the design of optimal multiuser receivers for space-time block coded (STBC) multicarrier code-division multiple-access (MC-CDMA) systems in unknown frequency-selective fading channels. Under a Bayesian framework, the proposed multiuser receiver is based on the Gibbs sampler, a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method for numerically computing the marginal a posteriori probabilities of different users' data symbols. By exploiting the orthogonality property of the STBC and the multicarrier modulation, the computational complexity of the receiver is significantly reduced. Furthermore, being a soft-input soft-output algorithm, the Bayesian Monte Carlo multiuser detector is capable of exchanging the so-called extrinsic information with the maximum a posteriori (MAP) outer channel code decoders of all users, and successively improving the overall receiver performance. Several practical issues, such as testing the convergence of the Gibbs sampler in fading channel applications, resolving the phase ambiguity as well as the antenna ambiguity, and adapting the proposed receiver to multirate MC-CDMA systems, are also discussed. Finally, the performance of the Bayesian Monte Carlo multiuser receiver is demonstrated through computer simulations.