Impulsive Noise Mitigation in a MIMO-OFDM Communication System

This paper addresses the performance of MIMO-OFDM, Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO)-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), communication system in environments where the interfering noise exhibits non-Gaussian behavior due to impulsive phenomena. It presents the design and simulation of an adaptive receiver technique that aims to minimize the effect of impulsive noise on the performance of the MIMO-OFDM communication system under Rayleigh fading channel. The proposed adaptive techniques use Normalized Least Mean Square (NLMS) and a new Variable Step-Size Normalized Least Mean Square (VSSNLMS) algorithm. The actual concern in generating the impulsive noise is to have the main characteristics that emulate the actual impulsive noise. The bit-error- rate (BER) performance of MIMO-OFDM system in an impulsive noise environment under Rayleigh fading channel was evaluated. The proposed adaptive receivers´ algorithms offer a novel approach in reducing the effect of impulsive noise and Rayleigh fading in a MIMO-OFDM communication system.