Performance Prediction for Turbo Codes in MIMO Wireless Systems

In multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, accurately predicting performance prior to data transmission remains a difficult problem. This paper proposes an algorithm to predict the bit error rate (BER) and packet error rate (PER) of a MIMO system with turbo coding. First, we modify the union bound (UB) with the help of Craig's formula to make it more amenable to random channels. Second, we extend a method to compute turbo code distance spectrums to accommodate puncturing and code termination. We apply this version of the UB and the distance spectrums to a MIMO system, and produce an algorithm to predict performance. In our results, we show tight bounds at lower, and practical, BERs and PERs.