Performance Analysis of the 3GPP-LTE Physical Control Channels

Maximum likelihood-based (ML) receiver structures are derived for the decoding of the downlink control channels in the new long-term evolution (LTE) standard based on multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antennas and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). The performance of the proposed receiver structures for the physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH) and the physical hybrid-ARQ indicator channel (PHICH) is analyzed for various fading-channel models and MIMO schemes including space frequency block codes (SFBC). Analytical expressions for the average probability of error are derived for each of these physical channels. The impact of channel-estimation error on the orthogonality of the spreading codes applied to users in a PHICH group is investigated, and an expression for the signal-to-self interference plus noise ratio is derived for Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO) systems. Finally, a matched filter bound on the probability of error for the PHICH in a multipath fading channel is derived. The analytical results are validated against computer simulations.