Partial Equalization for MC-CDMA Systems in Non-Ideally Estimated Correlated Fading

Multicarrier code-division multiple access (MC-CDMA) can support high data rates in next-generation multiuser wireless communication systems. Partial equalization (PE) is a low-complexity technique for combining the signals of subcarriers to improve the achievable performance of MC-CDMA systems in terms of their bit error probability (BEP) and bit error outage (BEO) in comparison with maximal ratio combining, orthogonality restoring combining, and equal-gain combining techniques. We analyze the performance of the multiuser MC-CDMA downlink and derive the optimal PE parameter expression, which minimizes the BEP. Realistic imperfect channel estimation and frequency-domain (FD) block-fading channels are considered. More explicitly, the analytical expression of the optimum PE parameter is derived as a function of the number of subcarriers, number of active users (i.e., the system load), mean signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and variance of the channel-estimation errors for the aforementioned FD block-fading channel. We show that the choice of the optimal PE technique significantly increases the achievable system load for the given target BEP and BEO.