On the capacity of OFDM-based multi-antenna systems

We compute the capacity of wireless orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)-based spatial multiplexing systems in delay spread environments. Introducing an abstract model to characterize the statistical properties of the space-time channel, we provide a Monte-Carlo method for estimating the capacity cumulative distribution function, expected capacity, and outage capacity for the case where the channel is unknown at the transmitter and perfectly known at the receiver. We study the influence of the propagation environment and system parameters on capacity, and we apply our method to spatial versions of standard channels taken from the GSM recommendations. This allows us to make statements about achievable data rates of OFDM-based spatial multiplexing systems operating in practical broadband propagation environments