Adaptive RF Chain Management for Energy-Efficient Spatial-Multiplexing MIMO Transmission

We present the theoretical foundation, implementation, and experimental evaluation of a novel power-saving mechanism for wireless transmission from multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transceivers, called RE chain management. RE chain management seeks to minimize the energy per bit for MIMO transmission, via adaptively choosing the optimal RF chain configuration, and satisfies the minimum data rate requirement at the same time. Our simulation shows that up to 45% and averagely 23% energy per bit reduction can be achieved. We have also built a prototype based on the WARP platform, and our experimental results have proved the feasibility of RE chain management in real systems and under realistic channels.