Optimal joint MIMO and modulation order selection for network coded multicast wireless communications

The capacity gain provided by MIMO systems and by network coding has been independently and extensively studied in literature. This paper analyses the combination of MIMO systems and network coding by jointly selecting the optimal MIMO antenna configuration and modulation order for multicast communications adopting network coding. To this end, a suitable objective function, considering both energy consumption and packet delivery delay for specific propagation scenarios, is minimized allowing the selection of the best transmission scheme. The advantages achievable by the proposed approach are highlighted: in particular, investigations span from a single user to balanced or unbalanced multi-users scenarios, giving evidence of the benefits obtained.