Frame design of equal-gain limited-feedback scalar MIMO and MISO transmitters

The scalar N_t × N_r MIMO system can be designed as the Nt independent SISO transmitters, where N_t and N_r are the number of transmit and receive antennas, respectively. Each of the transmitters has an independent symbol mapper, which rotates the phase according to the phase of the channel from its antenna to the receiver reference antenna. Every symbol mapper assigns a maximum degree of freedom to the signal, which in turn requires the minimum feedback bits. The Nr received signals reform the same transmit constellation after applying the combining vector of the GMRC (Generalized Maximum Ratio Combining) receiver. The Wireless open-Access Research Platform (WARP) is employed for prototyping and testing these transmitters. The empirical results of a frame transmission reflect the theory and validate the codebooks. However, the hardware-based imperfections and the channel estimation errors affect the performance of the frame. The former errors are originated from a non-ideal time synchronization, Automatic Gain Control (AGC), Analogue to Digital Converters (ADCs) and Digital to Analogue Converters (DACs). The channel estimations are done prior to the frame transmission. However, empirically, the estimated channels are not constant during the frame transmission, and there are fluctuations in their phases and magnitudes. These fluctuations are intensive when there is a line of sight (LOS) path between the antennas. It is shown that codebooks with a low number of feedback bits perform better than those with a large number of feedback bits in this situation.