Increasing the peak data rate of 3G downlink packet data systems using multiple antennas

A recent result in information theory states that the open-loop Shannon capacity of a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) link can be achieved if the data streams for each transmit antenna are separately encoded (possibly at different rates) and if a minimum mean-squared error (MMSE) receiver with post-decoding successive interference cancellation is used. Motivated by this result, we propose multiple antenna architecture, called per-antenna rate control (PARC), for providing downlink packet data services based on the fat-pipe architecture currently under development for 3G mobile wireless systems. Using T transmit antennas, the proposed system can potentially achieve a peak data rate T times that of the conventional system with a single transmit antenna. We perform system-level simulations and find that the sector throughput of the MIMO proposal using 4 transmit antenna and 4 antennas at each receiver is a factor of 1.75 greater than that of a conventional system with single antenna transmission and 4 antenna receive diversity.