Analyze of Single RF Front End Performance on MIMO System using V-BLAST Detection for Convolutional Code Encoder and Viterbi Decoder

Rapidly growing demand for high data rates in wireless communication systems is the cause of the merging of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) techniques. MIMO-OFDM technique needs Radio Frequency (RF) front end in each antenna, which is not effective for large dimensional antenna size. Therefore, RF front end on the receiver side will be simplified using a single RF technique based on the Electrically Steerable Parasitic Array Radiator (ESPAR) antenna. In real life, a channel cannot be ideal. Therefore, before the signal is transmitted, that signal must be coded to minimized errors when the data transmission process. Convolutional code is a coding technique that can detect and correct error bit (error control coding) and that it is expected to reduce the quantity of Bit Error Rate (BER). In this research, a simulation is designed to analyze single RF performance on the MIMO-OFDM system using Vertical Bell Laboratories Space-Time (VBLAST) detection for convolutional code encoder and Viterbi decoder. The result simulation shows that the channel estimation technique works well on the MIMO-OFDM system using single RF, which is shown in the magnitude and phase curves against the subcarrier index between the theory channel and the estimated channel are at almost the same points. VBLAST-ZF detector performance is shown in the BER curve against SNR, where the difference BER value for SNR value 10 dB between the theory channel and the estimated channel is 0.001499. Channel coding technique using convolutional code encoder and Viterbi decoder with a rate of ½ works well on the MIMO-OFDM system using single RF which is shown in the BER curve against SNR, where BER value with coding technique is smaller than BER value without coding technique.