Multiuser MIMO downlink transmission with BEM-based limited feedback over doubly selective channels

This article studies the problem of limited feedback design for heterogeneous multiuser (MU) transmissions over time- and frequency-selective (doubly selective) multiple-input multiple-output downlink channels. Under a doubly selective propagation condition, a basis expansion model (BEM) is deployed as a fitting parametric model for capturing the time-variation of the MU downlink channels and for reducing the number of the channel parameters. The resulting dimension reduction in the time-variant channel representation, in turn, translates into a reduced feedback load of channel state information (CSI) to the base station (BS). To produce limited feedback information, vector quantization of the BEM coefficients is performed at mobile terminals under the assumption that perfect BEM coefficient estimation has been established by existing algorithms. Then, the output indices of the quantized BEM coefficient vectors are sent to the BS via error-free, zero-latency feedback links. To assess the feasibility of using the BEM-based limited feedback design in a MU network with an arbitrary number of active users, the resultant sum-rate performance of the network is provided by employing the block-diagonalization precoding and greedy scheduling techniques at the BS. The relevant numerical results show that the BEM-based limited feedback scheme is able to significantly alleviate the detrimental effect of outdated CSI feedback which likely occurs as using the conventional block-fading assumption in MU transmissions over (fast) time-varying channels.