Abstract—The use of space-division multiple access (SDMA) in the downlink of a multiuser multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communications network can provide a substantial gain in system throughput. The challenge in such multiuser systems is designing transmit vectors while considering the co-channel interference of other users. Typical optimization problems of interest include the capacity problem—maximizing the sum information rate subject to a power constraint—or the power control problem—minimizing transmitted power such that a certain quality-of-service metric for each user is met. Neither of these problems possess closed-form solutions for the general multiuser MIMO channel, but the imposition of certain constraints can lead to closed-form solutions. This paper presents two such constrained solutions. The first, referred to as “block-diagonalization,” is a generalization of channel inversion when there are multiple antennas at each receiver. It is easily adapted to optimize for either maximum transmission rate or minimum power and approaches the optimal solution at high SNR. The second, known as “successive optimization, ” is an alternative method for solving the power minimization problem one user at a time, and it yields superior results in some (e.g., low SNR) situations. Both of these algorithms are limited to cases where the transmitter has more antennas than all receive antennas combined. In order to accommodate more general scenarios, we also propose a framework for coordinated transmitter-receiver processing that generalizes the two algorithms to cases involving more receive than transmit antennas. While the proposed algorithms are suboptimal, they lead to simpler transmitter and receiver structures and allow for a reasonable tradeoff between performance and complexity. Index Terms—Antenna arrays, array signal processing, MIMO systems, signal design, space division multiaccess (SDMA), wireless LAN. I.

Although the capacity of multiple-input/multiple-output (MIMO) broadcast channels (BCs) can be achieved by dirty paper coding (DPC), it is difficult to implement in practical systems. This paper investigates if, for a large number of users, simpler schemes can achieve the same performance. Specifically, we show that a zero-forcing beamforming (ZFBF) strategy, while generally suboptimal, can achieve the same asymptotic sum capacity as that of DPC, as the number of users goes to infinity. In proving this asymptotic result, we provide an algorithm for determining which users should be active under ZFBF. These users are semiorthogonal to one another and can be grouped for simultaneous transmission to enhance the throughput of scheduling algorithms. Based on the user grouping, we propose and compare two fair scheduling schemes in round-robin ZFBF and proportional-fair ZFBF. We provide numerical results to confirm the optimality of ZFBF and to compare the performance of ZFBF and proposed fair scheduling schemes with that of various MIMO BC strategies.

Abstract — In MIMO downlink channels, the capacity is achieved by dirty paper coding (DPC). However, DPC is difficult to implement in practical systems. This work investigates if, for a large number of users, simpler schemes can achieve the same performance. Specifically, we show that a zero-forcing beamforming (ZFBF) strategy, while generally suboptimal, can achieve the same asymptotic sum-rate capacity as that of DPC, as the number of users goes to infinity. In proving this asymptotic result, we propose an algorithm for determining which users should be active in ZFBF transmission. These users are semiorthogonal to one another, and when fairness among users is required, can be grouped for simultaneous transmissions to enhance the throughput of fair schedulers. We provide numerical results to confirm the optimality of ZFBF and to compare its performance with that of various MIMO downlink strategies. I.

Abstract—This paper considers the transmitter optimization problem for a multiuser downlink channel with multiple transmit antennas at the base-station. In contrast to the conventional sum-power constraint on the transmit antennas, this paper adopts a more realistic per-antenna power constraint, because in practical implementations each antenna is equipped with its own power amplifier and is limited individually by the linearity of the amplifier. Assuming perfect channel knowledge at the transmitter, this paper investigates two different transmission schemes under the per-antenna power constraint: a minimum-power beamforming design for downlink channels with a single antenna at each remote user and a capacity-achieving transmitter design for downlink channels with multiple antennas at each remote user. It is shown that in both cases, the per-antenna downlink transmitter optimization problem may be transformed into a dual uplink problem with an uncertain noise. This generalizes previous uplink–downlink duality results and transforms the per-antenna transmitter optimization problem into an equivalent minimax optimization problem. Further, it is shown that various notions of uplink–downlink duality may be unified under a Lagrangian duality framework. This new interpretation of duality gives rise to efficient numerical optimization techniques for solving the downlink per-antenna transmitter optimization problem. Index Terms—Beamforming, broadcast channel, capacity region, dirty-paper coding, Lagrangian duality. I.

Abstract—This paper considers the problem of simultaneous multiuser downlink beamforming. The idea is to employ a transmit antenna array to create multiple “beams ” directed toward the individual users, and the aim is to increase throughput, measured by sum capacity. In particular, we are interested in the practically important case of more users than transmit antennas, which requires user selection. Optimal solutions to this problem can be prohibitively complex for online implementation at the base station and entail so-called Dirty Paper (DP) precoding for known interference. Suboptimal solutions capitalize on multiuser (selection) diversity to achieve a significant fraction of sum capacity at lower complexity cost. We analyze the throughput performance in Rayleigh fading of a suboptimal greedy DP-based scheme proposed by Tu and Blum. We also propose another user-selection method of the same computational complexity based on simple zero-forcing beamforming. Our results indicate that the proposed method attains a significant fraction of sum capacity and throughput of Tu and Blum’s scheme and, thus, offers an attractive alternative to DP-based schemes. Index Terms—Beamforming, downlink, multiuser diversity. I.

In this paper, the effect of spatial diversity on the throughput and reliability of wireless networks is examined. Spatial diversity is realized through multiple independently fading transmit/receive antenna paths in single-user communication and through independently fading links in multiuser communication. Adopting spatial diversity as a central theme, we start by studying its information-theoretic foundations, then we illustrate its benefits across the physical (signal transmission/coding and receiver signal processing) and networking (resource allocation, routing, and applications) layers. Throughout the paper, we discuss engineering intuition and tradeoffs, emphasizing the strong interactions between the various network functionalities.

Abstract—In a multiple-antenna system with two transmitters and two receivers, a scenario of data communication, known as the X channel, is studied in which each receiver receives data from both transmitters. In this scenario, it is assumed that each transmitter is unaware of the other transmitter’s data (noncooperative scenario). This system can be considered as a combination of two broadcast channels (from the transmitters ’ points of view) and two multiple-access channels (from the receivers ’ points of view). Taking advantage of both perspectives, two signaling schemes for such a scenario are developed. In these schemes, some linear filters are employed at the transmitters and at the receivers which decompose the system into either two noninterfering multiple-antenna broadcast subchannels or two noninterfering multiple-antenna multipleaccess subchannels. The main objective in the design of the filters is to exploit the structure of the channel matrices to achieve the

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A simple signaling method for broadcast channels with multiple transmit multiple receive antennas is proposed. In this method, for each user, the direction in which the user has the maximum gain is determined. The best user in terms of the largest gain is selected. The corresponding

A fading broadcast channel is considered where the transmitter employs two antennas and each of the two receivers employs a single receive antenna. It is demonstrated that even if the realization of the fading is precisely known to the receivers, the high signal-to-noise (SNR) throughput is greatly reduced if, rather than knowing the fading realization precisely, the trasmitter only knows the fading realization approximately. The results are general and are not limited to memoryless Gaussian fading. 1