 the receiver, and results in an increase in average SINR at the receiver due to a coherent combining effect. The increased SINR further results in improved coverage and user throughput. Transmit or receive array gain requires channel knowledge in the transmitter and receiver, respectively, and further depends on the number of transmit and receive antennas. The channel knowledge in the receiver is typically available (through channel estimation based on downlink reference signals), whereas channel state information in the transmitter is in general more difficult to attain. The signal power is faded randomly in a wireless communication channel. Diversity is an effective technique to mitigate fading in a wireless channel. The diversity schemes rely on transmitting the signal over multiple and ideally independent fading channels in time, frequency, and/or space. Spatial diversity is preferred over time or frequency diversity, as it does not consume additional transmission time or bandwidth. If the Nr X N links comprising the MIMO channel fade independently and the transmitted signal is properly constructed, the receiver can combine the arriving signals such that the resulting signal exhibits considerably reduced amplitude variability relative to a SISO link and a diversity gain on the order of Nr X N can be achieved. Spatial diversity gain in the absence of channel knowledge at the transmitter can be achieved using suitably designed transmit signals, which are known as space-time coding. MIMO channels provide a linear increase in capacity as a function of min(Nr,N+) without requiring additional power or transmission bandwidth. This gain, referred to as spatial multiplexing gain, is realized by transmitting independent data streams from individual transmit antennas. Note that the number of independent data streams is limited to min(Ny,Nt). Under good channel conditions and sufficiently high SINR values, the receiver can detect different data streams, yielding a linear increase in capacity. Co-channel interference is 