A Comparison of Broadcast Strategy in MIMO Relay Networks

In this paper, the sum rate issue of a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) relay broadcast channel is studied, where the fixed relay station is used to support multiuser transmission in a downlink channel. With appropriate design, the sum rate can be expressed as a function of the processing units at the base station (BS) and relay, and the power allocation can be converted to a standard convex problem. We compared the sum rate of MIMO relay broadcast channel (BC) using time division multiple access (TDMA) to the strongest user, dirty paper coding (DPC) and beamforming (BF) when multiple antennas are deployed at each terminal in the system and separate power constraints at the BS and relay. Then, the sum rate bounds for each strategy and the sum capacity (achieved by DPC) gain over TDMA and BF are given, correspondingly. Finally, numerical results are presented to prove our discussions. With these results, we can easily obtain how far away TDMA and BF are from being optimal in terms of sum rate, and direct the practical system design.