Performance analysis of multiuser OFDM with optimum combining

Optimum combining is a diversity combining scheme that has appeared exclusively within the context of systems employing spatial diversity. In this paper the optimum combining principle is extended to a multiuser OFDM system to yield optimum performance with respect to the maximization of the signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of each user. Theoretical and simulated results are presented for user performance in the presence of multiple interferers, Rayleigh fading among each subcarrier and thermal background noise. In conjunction with the conventional assumption of uncorrelated fading, analytical and simulation results are presented for the realistic scenario of correlated fading among subcarriers.