Application Profile Based MIMO Link Adaptation in LTE System Networks

As the demand for mobile broadband services are growing, cellular networks are heading towards their fourth generation (4G). Long Term Evolution (LTE) is emerging as a major candidate for 4G cellular networks. 4G networks are to support a myriad of applications which have different error tolerance and delay requirements. MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) technology combined with OFDMA and more efficient modulation/coding schemes (MCS) are key physical layer technologies in LTE networks. However, in order to fully utilize the benefits of the advances in physical layer technologies MIMO configuration and MCS need to be dynamically adjusted to derive the promised gains of 4G at the application level. This paper proposes an application-profile based link adaptation architecture that adapts the physical layer transmission parameters based not only on channel conditions but also on application-specific requirements to transfer physical layer gains to the application layer.