Channel Prediction Aided Coded Modulation Assisted Eigen-Beamforming

Eigen-beamforming is capable of attaining attractive performance gains in the context of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, provided that accurate channel state information (CSI) is available. However, when a realistic pilot-based channel predictor is used for acquiring the CSI, a significant performance degradation may be imposed by the phase-ambiguity inherent in the estimated eigen-vectors. In this contribution, both higher-complexity coherently detected coded modulation (CM) schemes requiring channel information as well as their lower-complexity differentially encoded counterparts are employed for assisting the operation of the eigen-beamformer, when using a minimum mean square error based pilot-assisted channel predictor. It is shown that differentially encoded CM schemes are capable of assisting the eigen-beamformer in attaining a coding gain of about 6.5 dBs, when communicating over correlated Rayleigh fading channels.