Linear Precoding for Downlink MC-CDMA Systems

In this paper, as an alternative to post-detection techniques, we derive two iterative joint linear precoding and power allocation methods for downlink MC-CDMA systems with multiple transmit antennas at the base station. The first method optimally solves the so called assigned target SINRs problem, i.e. determines the precoding coefficients and the minimum sum-power allocation under a constraint on the SINR of each user. The second method instead solves the maximum sum-rate problem, i.e. maximizes the system throughput under a constraint on the overall transmit power. The main result of this paper is that the proposed joint precoding and power control solutions provide an advantage with respect to suboptimal solutions for a fully loaded system, i.e. when the number of users is equal to the spreading factor times the number of transmit antennas. For lower loads, performance of the various schemes becomes closer.