Near-optimal power allocation for MIMO channels with mean or covariance feedback

With mean or covariance channel feedback, the input covariance matrix can be designed to achieve the ergodic capacity of a MIMO fading channel. It is known that the eigenvectors of the optimal input covariance matrix are the same as the eigen-vectors of the channel mean or covariance matrix. However, the optimal power allocation across the eigen-vectors is much less understood. In this paper, two scenarios are investigated: (1) Rician MIMO channels with mean channel feedback, and (2) Rayleigh MIMO channels with covariance channel feedback. We first derive a suboptimal power allocation algorithms in the spatial domain for expected mutual information maximization for two transmit antennas systems, based on an upper bound for the ergodic capacity of a MIMO channel with either channel mean or covariance information at the transmitter. Then, we extend heuristically the results to systems with multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver side. The proposed power allocation solution permits a closed-form expression and has a water-filling interpretation. Simulation results reveal that the proposed method performs nearly the same as the optimal solution (which requires highly complex optimization routines over random processes) with inappreciable difference.