Noncoherent MLSE in DS-CDMA wireless systems with antenna arrays

This paper addresses the noncoherent detection problem for direct-sequence code-division multiple-access (DS-CDMA) signals in the presence of antenna arrays at the base station. An ideal open-loop power control, which compensates for the long-term variations due to path loss and shadowing experienced by the mobile users, is assumed. Then, the noncoherent maximum-likelihood sequence-estimation problem is analyzed under the assumption of spatially white interference. The contribution of this paper is to extend previous results obtained by the author in [17] for the case of multiantenna receivers, including the derivation and analysis of two suboptimal detectors based on an approximate maximization of the transmitted symbols likelihood. The first detector works as a traditional squared envelope combiner, which fully exploits the K diversity degrees provided by the multiple antenna system. In the second case, the receiver assumes a perfect knowledge of antenna response vector, so that spatial filtering of the received signal is made possible. Simulation and theoretical results are provided for a widely used circular ring of scatterers spatial channel model, which allows analysis in a wide range of different environmental conditions.