BER Performance of Space-Time Parallel ICI Cancellation of OFDM in MIMO Power Line Communications

Most of the studies on power line communication (PLC) are focused on single-input-single output (SISO)-PLC. There have been recent empirical and/or theoretical research with the focus on multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO)-PLC. This article analyzes the effects of correlation between different paths in MIMO-PLC on the performance of bit error rate (BER) and the channel capacity in the PLC system. Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is an effective method to mitigate the effect of the frequency selective multipath fading channel in the PLC system. However, OFDM is susceptible to the imperfect orthogonality among its subcarriers caused by the frequency offset at the receiver. Intercarrier interference cancellation technique such as parallel cancellation (PC) scheme is implemented in MIMO-PLC scenario to study the effect of correlation based on the latest research in MIMO-PLC. 2 x 1 and 2 x 2 space-time (ST)-OFDM and 2 x 2 STPC-OFDM channel models are investigated for the performance of the BER and channel capacity in additive impulsive Gaussian noise via computer simulations. It shows that the BER and channel capacity of both 2 x 1 and 2 x 2 STPC-OFDM outperforms 2 x 1 and 2 x 2 ST-OFDM, respectively, regardless of the correlation between different paths in MIMO-PLC.