A simplified technique for adaptive MIMO, modulation, and coding

In this paper we develop a technique for adaptive configuration of multi-antenna systems including modulation, coding, and the multi-antenna scheme without channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT) and with minimal feedback. Using a combination of theoretical and simulation-based models, we develop and verify a set of multi-antenna-scheme specific distance metrics for adaptation. Further, we integrate these MIMO distance metrics with standard distance metrics for adaptive modulation and coding (AMC). We show that with these simple metrics the adaptive scheme can achieve performance that is close to channel capacity and within a fraction of a dB of the best throughput achievable for the transmissions modes considered. The focus of this work is adaptation for a fixed BER while maximizing the spectral efficiency using minimal feedback.