Performance Evaluation of Quantized Feedback Beamforming in IEEE 802.11n Wireless Networks

In this paper, we study the quantized feedback beamforming techniques presented in the IEEE 802.11n joint proposal. Specifically, we compare three different quantized feedback schemes (channel state information matrix feedback, non-compressed steering matrix feedback, and compressed steering matrix feedback) and evaluate their relative merits in terms of bit error ratio (BER) degradation and overhead. Our numerical analysis and simulation results show that both non-compressed steering matrix feedback and compressed steering matrix feedback are good candidates that provide significant diversity gain with moderate complexity and small feedback overhead.