A Multi-User MIMO Downlink Receiver and Quantizer Design Based on SINR Optimization

In a quantization based multiuser multiple-input/multiple-output (MU-MIMO) broadcast channel, the effective channel gain (i.e., the norm of a channel vector obtained from the receive combiner) needs to be considered in addition to a reduction of quantization errors for maximizing the signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR). In this work, we prove that the effective channel gains in the space limited by an N_R x M_T MIMO channel form a min(M_T,N_R)-dimensional ellipsoid in the channel space. Utilizing the geometric proof, the achievable effective channel gain is derived as a function of its direction for a given MIMO channel. Based on the derivation, we finally propose a quantization vector selection criterion and an optimal receive combiner to maximize the SINR. The proposed maximum SINR based combining (MSC) is proven to be a better solution for maximizing the SINR compared to quantization based combining (QBC) and maximum gain based combining (MGC), each of which attempts to minimize quantization errors and maximize the effective channel gain.