Beam-steering and beam-forming for wideband MIMO/MISO systems

In a multiple-input communication system that implements orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), a method for processing data for transmission via a multiple-input channel comprising:

• obtaining a steering vector for each of a plurality of subbands, wherein each steering vector includes a plurality of elements for a plurality of transmit antennas, and further wherein the steering vector is selectively configured to perform beam-forming or beam-steering using a beam-steering/forming unit;
• obtaining a plurality of scaling values for the plurality of subbands;
• scaling modulation symbols to be transmitted on each subband with the scaling value for the subband;
• preconditioning the scaled modulation symbols for each subband with the steering vector for the subband;
• and
• forming a stream of preconditioned symbols for each transmit antenna.

A transmitter unit in a multiple-input communication system that implements orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), comprising:

• a TX data processor operative to code and modulate data based on a common coding and modulation scheme to provide modulation symbols;
• and
• a TX spatial processor operative to
• obtain a steering vector for each of a plurality of subbands, wherein each steering vector includes a plurality of elements for a plurality of transmit antennas, and further wherein the steering vector is selectively configured to perform beam-forming or beam-steering using a beam-steering/forming unit,
• obtain a plurality of scaling values for the plurality of subbands,
• scale the modulation symbols to be transmitted on each subband with the scaling value for the subband,
• precondition the scaled modulation symbols for each subband with the steering vector for the subband, and
• provide preconditioned symbols for transmission via a single eigenmode of a multiple-input channel.