MIMO Technologies in 3GPP LTE and LTE-Advanced

3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has recently completed the specification of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. Majority of the world’s operators and vendors are already committed to LTE deployments and developments, making LTE the market leader in the upcoming evolution to 4G wireless communication systems. Multiple input multiple output (MIMO) technologies introduced in LTE such as spatial multiplexing, transmit diversity, and beamforming are key components for providing higher peak rate at a better system efficiency, which are essential for supporting future broadband data service over wireless links. Further extension of LTE MIMO technologies is being studied under the 3GPP study item “LTE-Advanced” to meet the requirement of IMT-Advanced set by International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R). In this paper, we introduce various MIMO technologies employed in LTE and provide a brief overview on the MIMO technologies currently discussed in the LTE-Advanced forum.