Universal Lattice Codes for MIMO Channels

Abstract: We propose a coding scheme that achieves the capacity of the compound MIMO channel with algebraic lattices. Our lattice construction exploits the multiplicative structure of number fields and their group of units to absorb ill-conditioned channel realizations. To shape the constellation, a discrete Gaussian distribution over the lattice points is applied. These techniques, along with algebraic properties of the proposed lattices, are then used to construct a sub-optimal de-coupled coding schemes that achieves a gap to compound capacity by decoding in a lattice that does not depend of the channel realization. The gap is characterized in terms of algebraic invariants of the codes, and shown to be significantly smaller than previous schemes in the literature. We also exhibit alternative algebraic constructions that achieve the capacity of ergodic fading channels.