Generalized Framework for the Analysis of Linear MIMO Transmission Schemes in Decentralized Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

We develop a general framework for the analysis of a broad class of point-to-point linear multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission schemes in decentralized wireless ad hoc networks. New general closed-form expressions are derived for the outage probability, throughput and transmission capacity. For the throughput, we investigate the optimal number of data streams in various asymptotic regimes, which is shown to be dependent on different network parameters. For the transmission capacity, we prove that it scales linearly with the number of antennas, provided that the number of data streams also scales linearly with the number of antennas, in addition to meeting some mild technical conditions. We also characterize the optimal number of data streams for maximizing the transmission capacity. To make our discussion concrete, we apply our general framework to investigate three popular MIMO schemes, each requiring different levels of feedback. In particular, we consider eigenmode selection with MIMO singular value decomposition, multiple transmit antenna selection, and open-loop spatial multiplexing. Our analysis of these schemes reveals that significant performance gains are achieved by utilizing feedback under a range of network conditions.