Resource Allocation Techniques for Wireless Packet Networks based on V-BLAST Architecture

In this paper we propose and investigate some resource allocation strategies for a multiuser wireless SDMA/TDMA system where multiple antenna elements are used at both transmitter and receiver side within a V-BLAST architecture. More specifically, we consider the adaptive joint allocation of slots, rate and power in the uplink of a single-cell system. The proposed algorithms try to maximize the number of data packets per slot successfully delivered through the system when data-link and/or transport protocols are running over each link. This expected throughput is suitably estimated as a function of the instantaneous channel gain matrix by also taking into account error propagation in the V-Blast processing. The results show that the heuristic algorithms based on this novel approach outperform classical SNR-based algorithms and rate and power adaptation significantly improve slot capacity, already at reasonably small values of signalto- noise ratio.