Downlink beamforming for spatially distributed sources in cellular mobile communications

Abstract

This paper presents a new technique for downlink transmission beamformer design in cellular mobile communication systems using antenna arrays at the base station. The method is based on estimation of an underlying spatial distribution associated with each source’s spatial downlink channel. The algorithm is ‘blind’ in the sense that it depends only on uplink spatial channel statistics, requiring no mobile-to-base station feedback in the design procedure. The assumed underlying spatial distribution models are general enough to be used in a wide variety of mobile communications scenarios (e.g., rural, urban, sub-urban, indoor). The technique is of reasonable complexity with a significant portion of the computation carried out off-line. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of the approach.