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MIMO Technology for Advanced Wireless Local Area Networks

Dr. Won-Joon Choi Dr. Qinfang Sun Dr. Jeffrey M. Gilbert Atheros Communications

2005 Design Automation Conference June 15, 2005

Agenda

This presentation will give an overview of MIMO technology and its future in Wireless LAN:
Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN)

Current standards (11a/b/g) Next-generation 11n overview and status

Beamforming Spatial Multiplexing Bandwidth Number of spatial streams

MIMO fundamentals

MIMO scalability

The Wireless LAN Explosion

The Wireless LAN / Wi-Fi market has exploded! New technology is enabling new applications: Office
Email / Info anywhere Voice over IP

Home
Internet everywhere Multimedia

Hot-spots
Hot-spot coverage Metro-Area Networks

Wireless LAN Technology Advances

Wireless LAN technology has seen rapid advancements

Standards: 802.11 .11b .11a .11g Data rates: 2Mbps 100+ Mbps Range / coverage: Meters kilometers Integration: Multiple discretes single chip solutions Cost: $100s $10s (sometimes free w/rebates!)

How can this growth continue?

Previous advances have been limited to a single

transmitting and receiving radio The next generation exploits multiple parallel radios using revolutionary class of techniques called MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) to send information farther and faster

Existing 802.11 WLAN Standards

802.11b
Standard Approved Available Bandwidth Sept. 1999 83.5 MHz

802.11a
Sept. 1999 580 MHz

802.11g
June 2003 83.5 MHz

802.11n
? 83.5/580 MHz 2.4/5 GHz

Frequency Band of Operation # Non-Overlapping Channels (US) Data Rate per Channel

2.4 GHz

5 GHz

2.4 GHz

3 1 11 Mbps

24 6 54 Mbps

3 1 54 Mbps DSSS, CCK, OFDM

3/24 1 600 Mbps DSSS, CCK, OFDM, MIMO

Modulation Type

DSSS, CCK

OFDM

What Is Being Proposed for 802.11n?

Main Features PHY MIMO-OFDM
Beamforming

Spatial

Multiplexing

Extended bandwidth (40MHz) Advanced coding

MAC

Aggregation Block ACK Coexistence Power saving

Wireless Fundamentals I
In order to successfully decode data, signal strength needs to be greater than noise + interference by a certain amount

Higher data rates require higher SINR (Signal to Noise and Interference Ratio) Signal strength decreases with increased range in a wireless environment

60

Data Rate 1 Data Rate 2

Throughput

50 40 30 20 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12

Range

Wireless Fundamentals II
Ways to increase data rate:

Conventional single tx and rx radio systems

Increase transmit power

Subject to power amplifier and regulatory limits Increases interference to other devices Reduces battery life Fixed direction(s) limit coverage to given sector(s) Subject to FCC / regulatory domain constraints

Use high gain directional antennas

Use more frequency spectrum

Advanced MIMO: Use multiple tx and / or rx radios!

Conventional (SISO) Wireless Systems

channel
Bits TX DSP Radio Radio DSP RX Bits

Conventional Single Input Single Output (SISO) systems were favored for simplicity and low-cost but have some shortcomings:

Outage occurs if antennas fall into null Switching between different antennas can help Energy is wasted by sending in all directions Can cause additional interference to others Sensitive to interference from all directions Output power limited by single power amplifier

MIMO Wireless Systems

Bits D S P TX Radio Radio

channel

Radio Radio

D S P RX

Bits

Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) systems with multiple parallel radios improve the following:

Outages reduced by using information from multiple antennas Transmit power can be increased via multiple power amplifiers Higher throughputs possible Transmit and receive interference limited by some techniques

MIMO Alternatives
There are two basic types of MIMO technology:

Beamforming MIMO Standards-compatible techniques to improve the range of existing data rates using transmit and receive beamforming Also reduces transmit interference and improves receive interference tolerance

Spatial-multiplexing MIMO Allows even higher data rates by transmitting parallel data streams in the same frequency spectrum Fundamentally changes the on-air format of signals Requires new standard (11n) for standards-based operation Proprietary modes possible but cannot help legacy devices

Beamforming MIMO Overview

Consists of two parts to make standard 802.11 signals better Uses multiple transmit and/or receive radios to form coherent 802.11a/b/g compatible signals

Receive beamforming / combining boosts reception of standard 802.11 signals

Radio D S P RX

Bits TX

Radio Radio

Bits

Phased array transmit beamforming to focus energy to each

receiver
Bits TX

D S P

Radio
Radio Radio Bits RX

Benefits of Beamforming
Benefits

Power gain (applicable only to transmit beamforming)

Power from multiple PAs simultaneously (up to regulatory limits) Relaxes PA requirements, increases total output power delivered

Array gain: dynamic high-gain antenna Interference reduction

Reduce co-channel inter-cell interference

Diversity gain: combats fading effects

Multipath mitigation

Per- subcarrier beamforming to reduce spectral nulls

Multipath Mitigation

Multiple transmit and receive radios allow compensation of notches on one channel by non-notches in the other Same performance gains with either multiple tx or rx radios and greater gains with both multiple tx and rx radios

Spatial Multiplexing MIMO Concept

Spatial multiplexing concept:

Form multiple independent links (on same channel) between transmitter and receiver to communicate at higher total data rates

DSP
Bits Bit Split TX DSP

Radio Radio

Radio

DSP DSP

Bit Merge RX

Bits

Radio

Spatial Multiplexing MIMO Difficulties

Spatial multiplexing concept:

Form multiple independent links (on same channel) between transmitter and receiver to communicate at higher total data rates
However, there are cross-paths between antennas

DSP
Bits Bit Split TX DSP

Radio Radio

Radio

DSP DSP

Bit Merge RX

Garbage

Radio

Spatial Multiplexing MIMO Reality

Spatial multiplexing concept:

Form multiple independent links (on same channel) between transmitter and receiver to communicate at higher total data rates

However, there are cross-paths between antennas

The correlation must be decoupled by digital signal processing algorithms

DSP
Bits Bit Split TX DSP

Radio Radio

Radio

D S P

Bit Merge RX

Bits

Radio

Spatial Multiplexing MIMO Theory

High data rate

Data rate increases by the minimum of number of transmit and receive antennas Detection is conceptually solving equations Example of 2-by-2 system:

Transmitted signal is unknown, x1 , x2 Received signal is known, y1 , y2 Related by the channel coefficients, h11, h12 , h21, h22

y1 h11x1 h12 x2 y2 h21x1 h22 x2

Need more equations than unknowns to succeed

High spectral efficiency

Higher data rate in the same bandwidth

MIMO Scalability

Moores law

Doubling transistors every couple of years Increases number of streams Higher performance/speed Higher complexity

MIMO

MIMO is the bridge to allow us to exploit Moores law to get higher performance

MIMO Scalability

Notation

R: data rates (Mbps) Es: spectral efficiency (bps/Hz) Bw: bandwidth (MHz) Ns: number of spatial streams NR: number of Rx chains NT: number of Tx chains

MIMO Scalability

Data Rates

R = Es * Bw * Ns -> Scales with bandwidth and the number of spatial streams Example

11a/g: Es = 2.7; Bw = 20MHz; Ns=1; R = 54Mbps Spatial multiplexing MIMO

Es = 3.75; Bw=40MHz;Ns = 2; R = 300Mbps

Number of Tx/Rx chains

At least as many chains as Ns Ns = min(NR, NT)

MIMO Hardware Requirements

MIMO Transmitter (parallelism and data rate scaling)

MOD FEC Stream Split MOD Spatial Mapping

IFFT

RF

IFFT

RF

1* O(Bw*Es*Ns)

Ns * O(Bw*Es)

1* NT* NT* O(Bw*Es*Ns*NT) O(Bw*Es) Analog RF

MIMO Hardware Requirements

MIMO Receiver (parallelism and data rate scaling)

RF

FFT

Demod

MIMO Equalizer
RF

Stream Merge Demod

DEC

FFT

NR* Analog RF

NR* O(Bw*Es)

1* O(Bw*Es*NR*Ns2)

Ns* O(Bw*Es)

Ns* 1* O(Bw*Es) O(Bw*Es*Ns)

Conclusions

The next generation WLAN uses MIMO technology Beamforming MIMO technology

Extends range of existing data rates by transmit and receive beamforming

Spatial-multiplexing MIMO technology

Increases data rates by transmitting parallel data streams

MIMO allows system designers to leverage Moores law to deliver higher performance wireless systems

Circuit Implications of MIMO

Crystal

Common crystal is required Common synthesizer is preferred Allow additional flexibility

With total power limit, PA requirements relaxed With PA limit, total power increased.

Synthesizer

PA

Cross-talk/ Coupling

Need to minimize coupling between antennas

Circuit Impairments/Corrections

Timing offset

Common across multiple chains Common across multiple chains Common with common synthesizer With independent synthesizers, a new tracking algorithm may be needed. 1/f noise, I/Q mismatch, spurs, etc. Estimated and corrected for each chain

Frequency offset

Phase noise

Other impairments

Backup Slides

0.18um standard digital CMOS 7.2x7.2 mm2 die size 15x15mm2 BGA with 261 balls Ref: ISSCC05

Backup Slides
MIPS R4Kc, 16kB I and D caches 16b SDRAM interface 9b ADCs (4x) 9b DACs (4x) 180 MHz 100 MHz < 0.65 LSB INL&DNL, -48dB SNDR, 27mW <0.25 LSB INL&DNL, -51dB SNDR, 20mW

Total power, PCI mode, CPU off

Total power, MPEG-TS mode, CPU on

690 mW
1.8W

Supports 802.11 a, b, g, 20 and 40 1 to 108 Mb/s raw data rates MHz channel BW

Backup Slides
SDRAM Controller and Memory Interface MPEG-TS Local Bus MIPS Processor I2C WLAN MAC MRC/BF PCI UART Peripheral Interface
RS232 LED Control GPIOs

SDRAM and Flash

ADCs

2.4/5 GHz Rx Transceiver

Tx

Video Encoder/ Decoder

DACs

2.4/5 GHz Transceiver Rx

Tx

OFDM Mod/ Demod

Host System

Radio Control WLAN SOC

IR Interface

IR Remote Control