Performance of opportunistic fixed-beam spatial multiplexing in OFDMA uplink

Abstract

Adaptive spatial multiplexing (SM) Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) techniques enhance the spectral efficiency of wideband wireless communications in favorable radio channel conditions. In this study, we show the benefits of combining a traditional fixed-beam scheme and multiuser opportunistic radio resource allocation in space-time-frequency domains. This combining is feasible in wideband Orthogonal Frequency Domain Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems such as the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Long Term Evolution (LTE). This study brings novel knowledge which indicates that an orthogonal fixed beam approach benefits from opportunistic radio resource allocation clearly more than a conventional antenna domain approach in frequency-selective radio channels. It was found out that the fixed beam radio link performance is enhanced in wideband adaptive radio links due to the fact that orthogonal beams reduce correlation between the MIMO channels in the allocated sub-bands. Moreover, beamforming gains bring higher Eigenvalues of the MIMO channel matrix in the opportunistically selected sub-bands. It is shown that the fixed beam deployment changes the distribution of the MIMO channel correlation values and Eigenvalues in a manner which enhances opportunistic multiuser gains in wideband time-frequency-selective MIMO radio channels. Simulation results with 2 × 2 spatial multiplexing in an OFDMA uplink indicate that the proposed beam domain scheme gives up to 80% data throughput gain over the corresponding antenna domain scheme in a pedestrian microcell environment.