Method and apparatus for antenna selection and power control in a multiple input multiple output wireless communication system

A method for antenna selection by a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) base station associated with an antenna array having a plurality of antennas, the method comprising:

• determining whether a transmission to a user equipment will be a MIMO transmission;
• if the transmission to the user equipment will be a MIMO transmission, transmitting to the user equipment via each antenna of the plurality of antennas;
• and
• if the transmission to the user equipment will be a non-MIMO transmission, selecting an antenna of the plurality of antennas for the transmission based on a number of users associated with each antenna of the of the plurality of antennas.

A Multiple-Input Multiple-Output base station comprising:

• a multi-channel transmitter comprising:
• an input Fourier Transform Matrix (FTM) having a plurality of input ports and a plurality of output ports that receives an input signal at one or more input ports of the plurality of input ports and, for each input signal received at an input port, routes at least a portion of the input signal to each output port of the plurality of output ports to produce a plurality of input FTM output signals;
• a signal processing section having plurality of amplifiers, wherein each amplifier of the plurality of amplifiers of the signal processing section receives an input FTM output signal of the plurality of input FTM output signals, amplifies the received input FTM output signal to produce an amplified signal, and routes the amplified signal to an input port of an output FTM;
• an output FTM having a plurality of input ports and a plurality of output ports, wherein each input port of the plurality of input ports of the output FTM receives a signal that has been amplified by an amplifier of the signal processing section and produces an output signal at an output port of the plurality of output ports based on the plurality of received amplified signals, wherein each output signal at an output port of the plurality of output ports of the output FTM is an amplified version of an input signal received at an input port of the plurality of input ports of the input FTM;
• and
• an antenna array comprising a plurality of antennas, wherein each antenna of the plurality of antennas is operably coupled to an output port of the plurality of output ports of the output FTM and receives the output signal produced at the output port for transmission to a user equipment.