What is BLAST?

The central paradigm behind BLAST is the exploitation, rather than the mitigation, of multipath effects in order to achieve very high spectral efficiencies (bits/sec/Hz), significantly higher than are possible when multipath is viewed as an adversary rather than an ally.

Using our laboratory testbed, the BLAST team recently demonstrated what we believe to be unprecedented wireless spectral efficiencies, ranging from 20 - 40 bps/Hz. By comparison, the efficiencies achieved using traditional wireless modulation techniques range from around 1 - 5 bps/Hz (mobile cellular) to around 10 - 12 bps/Hz (point-to-point fixed microwave systems). In the 30 kHz bandwidth utilized by our research testbed, the raw spectral efficiencies realized thus far in the lab correspond to payload data rates ranging from roughly 0.5 Mb/s to 1 Mb/s. By contrast, the data rate achievable in this bandwidth using typical traditional methods is only about 50 kbps.

This high-level overview discusses BLAST in more detail.

Blast Measurements have been done and reported.

Blast in the Press

For additional information, contact rav@bell-labs.com.

BLAST-related open literature

• D. Chizhik, G. Foschini, M. Gans, and R. Valenzuela, Keyholes, Correlations, and Capacities of Multielement Transmit and Receive Antennas , IEEE Transaction on Wireless Communications. Vol. 1, No. 2, April 2002, pp. 361-368.

• G. J. Foschini, M. J. Gans, Capacity when Using Multiple Antennas at Transmit and Receive Sites and Rayleigh-Faded Matrix Channel is Unknown to the Transmitter, Advances in Wireless Communications, Ed. J. M Holtzman and M. Zorzi, Kulwer Academic Publishers, 1998.
• G. D. Golden, G. J. Foschini, R. A. Valenzuela, P. W. Wolniansky, Detection Algorithm and Initial Laboratory Results using the V-BLAST Space-Time Communication Architecture , Electronics Letters, Vol. 35, No. 1, Jan. 7, 1999, pp. 14-15.

• G. J. Foschini, G.D.Golden, R.A.Valenzuela, P.W.Wolniansky, Simplified Processing for Wireless Communication at High Spectral Efficiency, IEEE Journal on Select Areas in Coummunications, Vol. 17, No. 11, 1999.
• D-S. Shiu, G.J. Foschini, M.J. Gans, J.M.Kahn, Fading Correlation, and its Effect on the Capacity of Multielement Antenna Systems, IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol. 48, No. 3, 2000.
• P. W. Wolniansky, G. J. Foschini, G. D. Golden, R. A. Valenzuela, V-BLAST: An Architecture for Realizing Very High Data Rates Over the Rich-Scattering Wireless Channel , invited paper, Proc. ISSSE-98, Pisa, Italy, Sept. 29, 1998.
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• G. D. Golden, G. J. Foschini, P. W. Wolniansky, R. A. Valenzuela, V-BLAST: A High Capacity Space-Time Architecture for the Rich-Scattering Wireless Channel , Proc. Int'l Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies, Boulder, CO, Sept. 10, 1998.

• G. D. Golden, G. J. Foschini, R. A. Valenzuela, P. W. Wolniansky, V-BLAST: A High Capacity Space-Time Architecture for the Rich-Scattering Wireless Channel , Fifth Workshop on Smart Antennas in Wireless Mobile Communications, Stanford Univ., July 23-24, 1998.

• G. J. Foschini and M. J. Gans, On Limits of Wireless Communications in a Fading Environment When Using Multiple Antennas , Wireless Personal Communications, Volume 6, No. 3, March 1998, p. 311.

• G. J. Foschini and R. A. Valenzuela, Initial Estimation of Communications Efficiency of Indoor Wireless Channels , Wireless Networks, 3 (1997) pp 141-154.

• G. J. Foschini, Layered Space-Time Architecture for Wireless Communication in a Fading Environment When Using Multiple Antennas , Bell Labs Technical Journal, Vol. 1, No. 2, Autumn 1996, pp 41-59.

• G. J. Foschini and M. J. Gans, Capacity When Using Diversity at Transmit and Receive Sites and the Matrix Channel is Unknown at the Transmitter , Proceedings of the 6-th WINLAB Workshop on 3rd Generation Wireless Information Networks, March 20-21, 1996, New Brunswick, New Jersey.

BLAST- Measurement Literature

• M. Gans et. al., Multielement Antenna Systems Capacity Measurements at 2.44GHz in Suburban Outdoor Environment ,IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference, Spring 2001.

• J. Ling, et. al., Multiple Transmit Multiple Receive (MTMR) Capacity Survey in Manhattan , Electronic Letters, Vol. 37, No. 16, August 2001, pg. 1041.

• D. Chizhik, J. Ling, P. Wolniansky, R. Valenzuela, N. Costa, and K. Huber, Multiple Input Multiple Output Measurements and Modeling in Manhattan , Submitted to JSAC Special Issue on MIMO.