Multiuser-macrodiversity detection in Rayleigh fading channels

In this paper, we present a performance analysis for the reverse link of a wireless DS-CDMA system that exploits macrodiversity reception while adopting the maximum likelihood (ML) multiuser detector for the basic detection. To our knowledge this is the first paper to provide an analytical treatment of the ML multiuser-macrodiversity detector in Rayleigh fading channels. We also include the effects of imperfect synchronization, imperfect channel state information (CSI), and realistic indoor wireless propagation. We have shown that this detector is capable of reducing the bit error rate (BER) for many users by several orders of magnitude compared with multiuser detectors that operate on each antenna separately.