In this paper we first analyze some mathematical properties of ergodic capacity and outage capacity functions of the layers in Bell labs layered space-time (BLAST) architectures employing successive decoding and interference cancellation. We then present statistical rate allocation and power allocation methods that optimize the asymptotic performance of BLAST architectures. Since the methods are developed by using ergodic capacity and outage capacity functions of the layers, the allocated rates and powers depend only on a given channel statistic. Finally, we prove that the rate allocation yields a better asymptotic performance than the power allocation. Numerical results show that BLAST architectures with the rate and power allocation perform better by 4 dB and 3 dB, respectively, than a BLAST architecture with the same rate and power in all layers.

Group layered multi-antenna architectures (GLAs) employing orthogonal space-time block codes and spatial multiplexing techniques may simultaneously exploit diversity and multiplexing gains with simple decoding algorithms based on successive interference cancellation (SIC). In this paper we first describe a decoding method of a SIC receiver based on QR decomposition in a GLA using LDPC codes, and then find a combination of code rate and modulation order which optimizes the asymptotic performance of the GLA. Simulation results show that the performance of the GLA using code rates and modulation orders found by our method is better by 2 dB than that of a GLA using the same code rate and modulation order in all layers. Our optimization method can be applied to adaptive modulation and coding schemes for GLAs.

In this paper we derive the symbol error rate (SER) of the vertical Bell laboratories layered space-time (V-BLAST) detection algorithm based on zero-forcing successive interference cancellation (ZF-SIC) over an independent and identically distributed Rayleigh flat fading channel. By introducing the concepts of "event" and "state" related to error propagation, we evaluate the effect of error propagation and calculate the exact SER of each layer in a simple way. Compared with the pre-existing results, our approach can offer the closed-form expression of the SER of arbitrary quadrature-amplitude modulation (QAM) for an arbitrary number of transmit and receiver antennas. Furthermore, our analysis matches very well with Monte Carlo simulation results.

In this paper we first perform the density evolution of LDPC codes in layered multi-antenna architectures using bit- interleaved coded modulation and detection based on successive decoding and interference cancellation. The noise thresholds of LDPC codes are shown to be achieved within 1.2 dB of the capacity for these architectures. We then present a rate allocation method which optimizes the performance of a layered architecture and find good degree distributions for LDPC codes with the rates allocated by our method. Simulation results show that the performance for an optimized layered architecture is better by 4 dB than that for the layered architecture using LDPC codes with the same rate in all layers.