Measurement-Based Performance Analysis of Cooperative MIMO Beamforming

This letter explores the potential benefits of cooperative multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) signaling from three coherent base stations to a single four-antenna mobile station using channel measurements in an urban macrocellular environment at 2.66 GHz. The analysis compares the performance when the cooperative base stations have no information about the channels to that achieved when they can cooperatively apply transmit beamforming. In the latter case, the transmit power is constrained such that either the total power or the power on each base-station antenna is limited. The results demonstrate that significant improvement is possible using the cooperative MIMO signaling, with the performance depending on the capabilities of the system.