System and Method for Link Adaptation

A method for operating a first communications device, the method comprising:

• deriving, by the first communications device, a range of post-processing signal plus interference to noise ratio (SINR) values for a communications channel using a first layer in the communications channel available for communications, the range of post-processing SINR values derived in accordance with a channel estimate of the communications channel, interference information about the communications channel, and signature information;
• selecting, by the first communications device, a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) in accordance with the range of post-processing SINR values to establish a first channel quality index (CQI) vector;
• and
• transmitting, by the first communications device, the first CQI vector to a second communications device.

A method for operating a second communications device, the method comprising:

• receiving, by the second communications device, a first channel quality index (CQI) vector including a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) of a communications channel between the second communications device and a first communications device;
• adjusting, by the second communications device, the first CQI vector in accordance with information regarding operating conditions in a wireless communications system to produce an adjusted CQI vector;
• and
• transmitting, by the second communications device, the adjusted CQI vector to the first communications device.

A method for link adaptation in a wireless communications system, the method comprising:

• receiving, by a first communications device, a channel quality report from a second communications device;
• selecting, by the first communications device, an entry from a link adaptation table in accordance with the channel quality report, wherein the link adaptation table includes a plurality of entries for channel parameters, and wherein the channel parameters include a number of layers and modulation and coding scheme (MCS) levels;
• and
• communicating, by the first communications device, with the second communications device in accordance with the selected entry.