2012 International Conference on Design & Technology of Integrated Systems in Nanoscale Era

Performance Analysis of ZF and MMSE Equalizers

for MIMO Systems
Abdessalem TRIMECHE(1,2), Nesrine Boukid(1), Anis SAKLY(2), Abdellatif MTIBAA(1,2),
abd_trim@hotmail.fr , sakly_anis@yahoo.fr , Abdellatif.mtibaa@enim.rnu.tn ,
1: Laboratory of Electronic and Microelectronic, University of Monastir, Tunisia.
2: National Engineering School of Monastir, University of Monastir, Tunisia.

Abstract-This paper presents an in-depth analysis of the zero deal with the unknown channel coefficients in multiple
forcing (ZF) and minimum mean squared error (MMSE) antenna systems [8]
equalizers applied to wireless multi-input multi-output In this paper, we present an in-depth analysis of the perfor-
(MIMO) systems with no fewer receive than transmit mance of the zero forcing (ZF) and minimum mean squared
antennas. In spite of much prior work on this subject, we
error (MMSE) equalizers applied to the channel given in a
reveal several new and surprising analytical results in terms of
output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), by comparing the Bit Error MIMO system with M transmit antennas and N receive
Rate (BER) and the average detection time consuming. antennas.
Simulation based on the platform of MATLAB. We discuss the The linear ZF and MMSE equalizers are classic functional
case where there a multiple transmit antennas and multiple blocks and are ubiquitous in digital communications. They
receive antennas resulting in the formation of a Multiple Input are also the building blocks of more advanced
Multiple Output (MIMO) channel with Zero Forcing communication schemes such as the decision feedback
equalizer, MIMO with MMSE equalizer, MIMO with ZF equalizer (DFE), or equivalently, [9].
Successive Interference Cancellation equalizer, MIMO with
ML equalization, MIMO with MMSE SIC and optimal II. PROBLEM FORMULATION
ordering
Let us consider a MIMO system with M transmits antennas
Keywords- MIMO, ZF , ML, MMSE , BER , SNR and N receives antennas. Then the channel output is written
as:
I. INTRODUCTION
y = Hx + w H R m n (1)
Automatic modulation recognition has recently attracted
m n
many research works. Modulation recognition techniques Where H R is the MIMO channels matrix,
can be divided in two categories; recognition from the signal x A is the transmitted symbol matrix and W R m is
n
samples and the recognition from its symbols. In the an additive noise matrix whose elements are assumed to be
recognition from the samples, which covers the majority of i.e. complex Gaussian random variables.
the worldwide research, the modulation is recognized from
the signal features while in the recognition from the The performance of MIMO communication system can be
symbols; symbols are first derived and based on them the measured in term of binary success rate (BER).
modulation is recognized [1]. The probability of mistake is generally calculated according
The goal of achieving high-speed reliable data transmission
over highly dynamic wireless media has generated a lot of to SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) report .
research activities in the information theory, Hx 2
communications and signal processing communities. One of = 2 (2)
the major challenges there is due to fading, where the W
wireless channels may vary over time [2].
Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system can greatly We choice s = Hx ,
improve the channel capacity and transmission reliability,
by using multiple antennas at both the transmitter and the m 2 m n 2
s = s k = hkj x j

2
receiver, without overhead of transmission power and
k =1
bandwidth. MIMO technology has become one of the most k =1 j =1 (3)
promising and key technologies in the fourth generation m n
= hkj . x j = E S .n .m
2 2
mobile communication. But MIMO detection is
computation extensive and nota trivial work [3]. k =1 j =1
MIMO systems have received a significant amount of
attention in recent years for the promise of greatly
increasing spectral efficiency and exploiting both transmits Considering
and receives diversity when the channel state information is
w = 2.m .N 0
2
(4)
known. However, the wireless channel uncertainties,
especially in fast fading scenarios, pose challenges in
achieving the benefits in the MIMO systems [4] [5] [6] [7].
It usually takes more resources like power and bandwidth to We obtain the medium SNR:

978-1-4673-1928-7/12/$31.00 2012 IEEE -1-

 2012 International Conference on Design & Technology of Integrated Systems in Nanoscale Era

E s .n B. Influence of the technique modulation on the BER

= (5)
2.N 0
The factor 2 in the middle power of the noise appears
because the real and imaginary parts of w have each the N0
variance; therefore, the variance of every component of w is
2N0.
variation according to the SNR for a ZF Equalizer
WE suppose that the length of the equalizer is c=9 and that
the channel is multi journeys.
The figure 2 shows the performance in term BER of ZF
Equalizer while using the QAM-4 modulation, QAM--16,
QAM--64 while fixing the length of the equalizer c=9.

III. ZF AND MMSE EQUALIZERS PERFORMANCES IN 0

10 QAM4
SISO SYSTEM QAM16
We study the assessment of the BER according to the QAM64
-1
SNR while modifying: the type of Equalizer, length of 10
Equalizer, the modulation technique adopted and the type of
the channel used.
-2

BER------->
10
A. Influence of the length of ZF equalizer on the BER
characteristic according to the SNR -3
10
To value the BER according to the SNR for different
lengths of equalizer we suppose that the modulation is a
modulation 4-QAM (Quadratic and Amplitude -4
10
modulation) that the channel is multi - journeys. The
lengths of the channels used are
C 1 = 3,C 2 = 5,C 3 = 7,C 4 = 9 .
-5
10
0 5 10 15 20 25
SNR------->
The numeric simulation on Matlab is presented on figure 1
Figure 2. : BER according to the SNR for the QAM-4
modulations, QAM16, QAM-64 of a Equalizer ZF with c=9
Passing from QAM-4 to QAM-64 the number of possible
0
states, in the diagram of constellation, increase, therefore the
10 sim-c1=3
principle of worth precinct observed becomes more and more
sim-c2=5
sim-c3=7
complicate while sweeping the whole diagram then more that
-1 sim-c4=9 the number of state is big more the binary mistake
10
probability increases.

-2
BE R------->

10
C. Influence of the type of Equalizer on the BER variation
according to the SNR
-3
10
We suppose that c=9 and that the channel is multi -
journey to compare the characteristic BER according to
-4
10 the SNR for MMSE Equalizer than ZF Equalizer. We use
also QAM-4 modulation. The result of this comparison is
on the Figure3
-5
10
0 5 10 15 20 25
SNR(dB)------->

Figure 1. BER according to the SNR for the lengths of

the channels c1=3, c2=5, c3=7, c4=9 of ZF Equalizer with
QAM-4 modulation
The length of the equalizer represents the order of this
one, what explains an improvement of the performances as
passing a filter 3 tap to a filter 9 tap ". In fact, more the
order of the filter is big more his capacity of filtering is
better.

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 2012 International Conference on Design & Technology of Integrated Systems in Nanoscale Era

IV. EQUALIZER PERFORMANCES IN MIMO SYSTEM

sim-zf
sim-mmse
In unconsciousness of Rayleigh, the probability of
-1
10 middle mistake BER can be written in elevated SNR like
1
BER  (5)
-2
10 SNR
Where is the order of diversity and reflect the
BER------->

tolerance of the system and the hardiness facing the

-3
10 unconsciousness of channel.

A. ZF Equalizer performance in term of BER for the

-4
10 different modulation techniques
we will value the BER according to the SNR for the
different modulation techniques of QAM-4, QAM--16,
-5
10
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
QAM--64 for ZF detector while fixing n=2 and m=4.
SNR------->
The following organization chart represents the algorithm
Figure 3.BER according to SNR for ZF Equalizer and adopted to determine the variation of BER=f (SNR):
MMSE detector using QAM-4 modulation and C=9
Generation of the plot
We remark that the MMSE Equalizer is more preferment S=2x103 for QAM [-]
than the ZF detector in rate erroneous bits.
D. Influence of the model of canal on the BER variation Grouping by 4 components of
S
according to the SNR
In this part, we are going to determine the BER=f (SNR)
Generation of the matrix of
evolution for a channel of Rayleigh and to compare it with Rayleigh H
IES channel using the two equalizer ZF and MMSE. We use
QAM-4 modulation. The result is on the Figure 4
Creation of the vector
observed Y=HxS+W

0
10 Application of ZF detector
sim-zf
sim-mmse
-1
10 raileigh Creation of the vector
observed Y=HxS+W

-2
10
Calculation of BER=f (SNR)
BER------->

-3
10

Figure 5. Organization chart of the algorithm of assessment

10
-4
of the BER=f (SNR) for the ZF detector, n=m=4 with QAM-
4, QAM-16 and QAM-64 modulations.
-5
10

The numeric simulation on Matlab is presented on the

10
-6
following figure 6.
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
SNR------->

Figure 4. BER according to SNR for ZF Equalizer and

MMSE detector using ISI canal and Rayleigh canal

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 2012 International Conference on Design & Technology of Integrated Systems in Nanoscale Era

0
The numeric simulation on Matlab is presented on the
10 following figure 8
ZF4qam
ZF16qam 0
10
ZF64qam MMSE 4 qam
MMSE 16 qam
MMSE 64 qam
BER-------------->

-1
10

BER-------------->
-1
10

-2
10
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
SNR(dB)---------->
-2
10
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Figure 6. Performance BER=f (SNR) for ZF Equalizer, SNR(dB)---------->
n=m=4 for modulations QAM-4, QAM -16, QAM -64
Figure 8. Performance BER=f (SNR) for MMSE
One notices that one passer-by of the QAM-4 modulation
Equalizer, n=m=4 for modulation QAM-4, QAM -16,
in the QAM-64 modulation the binary success rate increases
QAM -64
therefore in a remarkable way the detector becomes more
and more less effective. For MMSE Equalizer, we nearly get the same pace of the
curves given by ZF Equalizer. Therefore we can
B. Performance in term of BER of MMSE Equalizer for generalize the same interpretation that the binary success
the different techniques of modulation rate increases with the number of states considered.
We apply the same algorithm used safe below one
changes the number of emitter n=5 and the receiving m=4 C. Performance in term of BER for ZF and MMSE
Equalizer for a system MIMO 6x6
Generation of the plot S=2x103 We made a comparison between ZF Equalizer and the
for QAM [-]
MMSE Equalizer for a system MIMO 6x6 with QAM-4
modulation.
Grouping by 5 components of
Generation of the plot
S
S=2x103 for QAM[-]

Generation of the matrix of

Rayleigh H Grouping by 6
components of S

Creation of the vector observed

Y=HxS+W Generation of the matrix
of Rayleigh H

Application of MMSE detector

Creation of the vector
observed Y=HxS+W

Creation of the vector observed

Y=HxS+W
Application of ZF detector

Calculation of BER=f (SNR)

A Application of MMSE
detector

Figure 7 Organization chart of the algorithm of

Calculation of BER=f (SNR)
assessment of the BER=f (SNR) for the MMSE Equalizer, for i=[1,2]
n=m=4 with QAM-4, QAM-16 and QAM-64 modulations.

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 2012 International Conference on Design & Technology of Integrated Systems in Nanoscale Era

Figure 9. Organization chart of the algorithm of 0

10
assessment of the BER=f (SNR) for ZF and MMSE ZF
Equalizer, n=m=6 with QAM-4. MMSE
Ml,SD
The figure 10 represents the performance of ZF and -1
10
MMSE Equalizer for a MIMO system 6x6 using
QAM-4 modulation.

BER-------------->
-2
0 10
10
ZF
MMSE

-3
10
BER-------------->

-4
-1 10
10 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
SNR(dB)---------->

Figure 11. Performance BER=f (SNR) for ZF ,

MMSE, ML and SD Equalizer, n=m=6 with
modulation QAM-4.

-2
E. Performance in term of BER for ZF , MMSE,
10
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 ML,SD and SDR Equalizer for a system MIMO 6x8
SNR(dB)---------->
In this part, we applied the SDR (semi definite relaxation)
Figure 10. Performance BER=f (SNR) for ZF and method to a system sending some symbols in {-1, 1} for
MMSE Equalizer, n=m=6 with modulation QAM-4. n=6 and m=8, the results are on the figure 12. We can see
that the SD algorithm is more effective than the ZF, MMSE
The results of simulation analyze the performances of the and SDR methods.
algorithm proposed as comparing the BER gotten by
every Equalizer. In relation to ZF Equalizer, The MMSE 0
10
Equalizer presents the best performances in binary ZF
success rate minimization term. MMSE
SDR
-1 ML,SD
D. Performance in term of BER for ZF , MMSE, ML 10

and SD Equalizer for a system MIMO 6x6

BER-------------->

We follow the same instructions described below by the

-2
organization chart while adding a stage for ML Equalizer 10
and SD Equalizer; let's note that the Equalizer maximum
likelihood (ML) and the decoder by sphere (SD) have the
same performance. The figure 11 shows the results gotten by -3
10
every Equalizer in term of BER. One notices that ML
Equalizer gives a better performance that MMSE Equalizer
and ZF Equalizer while his algorithmic complexity increases
-4
exponentially with the number of antennas to the broadcast 10
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
to the receipt as well as the number of states considered. SNR(dB)---------->

Figure 12. Performance BER=f (SNR) for ZF , MMSE,

ML,SD and SDR dectorr, n=6 and m=8 with modulation
QAM-4.
Semi definite relaxation (SDR) is a high-performance
efficient approach to MIMO detection for the BPSK or
QPSK constellations. Recently, a number of research
endeavors have focused on existing SDR to the case of 16-
QAM [10].
V. CONCLUSION
Three kinds of equalizers, designed based on blindly
estimated channel zeros, have been analyzed for SISO
channels and MIMO channels. It is shown that the use of

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 2012 International Conference on Design & Technology of Integrated Systems in Nanoscale Era

channel zero information enables one to analyze equalizers
in an efficient manner. Not surprisingly, the zero base-
designed ZF equalizer enhances the noise in the channel
while the MMSE equalizer provides better noise immunity
[11]. It is also noted here that the performance of equalizers
can be improved with FPGA implementation using output
signal clustering, although this need more complicated
training algorithms.
The ASIP implementation achieves a promising throughput
and the symbol rate of the current implementation is very
close to the 3G LTE specifications. Furthermore, the C
compilation can be most probably improved with a hand
coded assembly. The ASP implementation benefits from the
design freedom and achieves promising throughput results
with a low area complexity. To achieve a sufficient symbol
rate, multiple low complex- ity ASPs can process in parallel.
The drawback of the assembly programmed ASP
implementation based on the TTA is that the
implementation phase is rather laborious and resembles
more an ASIC designing than programming a DSP [12].
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