Improved linear crosstalk precompensation for DSL

Crosstalk is the major source of performance degradation in next generation DSL systems such as VDSL. In downstream communications, transmitting modems are co-located at the central office. This allows crosstalk precompensation to be employed. In crosstalk precompensation, the transmitted signal is pre-distorted such that the pre-distortion destructively interferes with the crosstalk introduced by the channel. Existing crosstalk precompensation techniques either give poor performance or require modification of customer premises equipment (CPF). This is impractical since there are millions of legacy CPE modems already in use. We present a novel crosstalk precompensation technique, based on a diagonalization of the crosstalk channel matrix. This technique does not require modification of CPE. Furthermore, certain properties of the DSL channel ensure that this diagonalizing precompensator achieves near-optimal performance.