An FPGA-based MIMO and space-time processing platform
EURASIP Journal on Applied Signal Processing
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Prototyping of wireless systems gives key insight of thesystem operation and its performance in a real wirelessend-to-end link. The platform provides access to realpropagation channels and gives better understanding ofthe impact of front-end impairments such as phase noiseand amplifier non-linearity. In this way it can help the designersto ensure that their system design meets the performancerequirements of the wireless LAN standardizationcommittees. We have conceived a generic platform for realtime prototyping of broadband WLAN systems. The platformis based on modular multi-FPGA and multi-boardconcepts with support for high-speed serial connectionlinks between the boards. The hardware and software flexibilityof the platform facilitates the extensions towards nextgeneration WLAN standards. This paper describes the implementationof a 54 Mbps single antenna Hiperlan2 wirelessLAN user terminal and the implementation of a 2-antenna base station with a downlink capacity of 2 times 54 Mbps. Two realizations of the front-end and their digitalcompensation techniques are characterized on the platform:a 5 GHz super-heterodyne transceiver and a 5 GHzdirect conversion receiver. Finally, a real time WLAN systemwith Medium Acces Control (MAC) is demonstrated onthe platform.