Nonlinear precoding in code-division multiple access communication system

1. A method for preprocessing a spread-spectrum transmission, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving channel state information for multipath channels to K receivers, K≧2;

precoding incoming K×1 symbol vectors prior to transmission by

applying a first feedback filter to a previously-precoded vector, and subtracting from the incoming K×1 symbol vectors to cancel intersymbol interference, the first feedback filter generated using the channel state information; and

applying a second feedback filter and a feedforward filter, the second feedback filter and the feedforward filter arranged so as to use the channel state information to cancel multiuser interference along the multipath channels to the K receivers.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the preceding of a K×1 symbol vector proceeds in a bit-wise operation resulting in a K×1 precoded symbol vector and wherein the method further comprises applying a spreading operation to the K×1 precoded symbol vector thereby resulting in a precoded chip vector.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein precoding the incoming K×1 symbol vectors is combined with a spreading operation so that the precoding of a K×1 symbol vector proceeds in a chip-wise operation resulting in a N×1 precoded chip vector where N is a spreading factor for the spreading operation.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein a modulo operation is applied with the second feedback filter so as to prevent an increase in transmit power.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein channel state is represented by a matrix H which is decomposed into matrices G −1 CF H , F being a unitary matrix, G −1 C being lower triangular where G is a diagonal matrix which makes C monic lower triangular and where operation of the first feedback filter cancels intersymbol interference, operation of the second feedback filter can be represented by a feedback filter matrix (C-I), where I is an identity matrix, and operation of the feedforward filter can be represented by F.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein decomposition of the matrix H is performed using LQ decomposition, L being a lower triangular matrix of matrix Q.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein power loading is applied by multiplying the incoming K×1 symbol vectors by a matrix whose diagonal elements represent power assigned to a particular receiver.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein performance is optimized by orthogonalizing rows in the matrix H in an optimized order.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the optimized order is specified by a permutation matrix P and wherein an optimal permutation matrix is found by iteratively selecting a row that is closest to a subspace spanned by rows already orthogonalized.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the channel state information is estimated based on information from a previous transmission slot.

11. A transmitter arrangement for a spread-spectrum transmission system, the transmitter arrangement comprising:

a channel state estimator for generating channel state information for multipath channels to K receivers, K≧2; and

a precoder for preceding incoming K×1 symbol vectors prior to transmission, the precoder comprising

a first feedback filter generated using the channel state information from the channel state estimator, the first feedback filter being applied to a previously-precoded vector which is then subtracted from the incoming K×1 symbol vectors to cancel intersymbol interference; and

a second feedback filter and a feedforward filter, the second feedback filter and the feedforward filter arranged so as to use the channel state information to cancel multiuser interference along the multipath channels to the K receivers.

12. The transmitter arrangement of claim 11 wherein the precoding of a K×1 symbol vector proceeds in a bit-wise operation resulting in a K×1 precoded symbol vector and wherein the transmitter arrangement further comprises a module which performs a spreading operation to the K×1 precoded symbol vector thereby resulting in a precoded chip vector.

13. The transmitter arrangement of claim 11 wherein precoding the incoming K×1 symbol vectors is combined with a spreading operation so that the preceding of a K×1 symbol vector proceeds in a chip-wise operation resulting in a N×1precoded chip vector where N is a spreading factor for the spreading operation.

14. The transmitter arrangement of claim 11 wherein a modulo operation is applied with the second feedback filter so as to prevent an increase in transmit power.

15. The transmitter arrangement of claim 11 wherein channel state is represented by a matrix H which is decomposed into matrices G −1 CF H , F being a unitary matrix, G −1 C being lower triangular where G is a diagonal matrix which makes C monic lower triangular and where operation of the first feedback filter cancels intersymbol interference, operation of the second feedback filter can be represented by a feedback filter matrix (C-I) where I is an identity matrix, and operation of the feedforward filter can be represented by F.

16. The transmitter arrangement of claim 15 wherein decomposition of the matrix H is performed using LQ decomposition, L being a lower triangular matrix of matrix Q.

17. The transmitter arrangement of claim 15 wherein power loading is applied by multiplying the incoming K×1 symbol vectors by a matrix whose diagonal elements represent power assigned to a particular receiver.

18. The transmitter arrangement of claim 17 wherein performance is optimized by orthogonalizing rows in the matrix H in an optimized order.

19. The transmitter arrangement of claim 18 wherein the optimized order is specified by a permutation matrix P and wherein an optimal permutation matrix is found by iteratively selecting a row that is closest to a subspace spanned by rows already orthogonalized.

20. The method of claim 11 wherein the channel state information is estimated by the channel state estimator based on information from a previous transmission slot.