Design and Analysis of MIMO Spatial Multiplexing Systems With Quantized Feedback

This paper investigates the problem of transmit beamforming in multiple-antenna spatial multiplexing (SM) systems employing a finite-rate feedback channel. Assuming a fixed number of spatial channels and equal power allocation, we propose a new criterion for designing the codebook of beamforming matrices that is based on minimizing an approximation to the capacity loss resulting from the limited rate in the feedback channel. Using the criterion, we develop an iterative design algorithm that converges to a locally optimum codebook. Under the independent identically distributed channel and high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) assumption, the effect on channel capacity of the finite-bit representation of the beamforming matrix is analyzed. Central to this analysis is the complex multivariate beta distribution and tractable approximations to the Voronoi regions associated with the code points. Furthermore, to compensate for the degradation due to the equal power allocation assumption, we propose a multimode SM transmission strategy wherein the number of data streams is determined based on the average SNR. This approach is shown to allow for effective utilization of the feedback bits resulting in a practical and efficient multiple-input multiple-output system design