Adaptively determining a data rate of packetized information transmission over a wireless channel

Abstract

Systems and techniques relating to processing a signal received over a wireless channel. A technique includes adaptively determining a data rate of packetized information transmission based on both a signal quality measure of a received signal and a channel quality measure derived from the received signal, the channel quality measure being indicative of frequency selectivity in the wireless channel. An apparatus includes a channel estimator configured to be responsive to a received OFDM signal corresponding to multiple frequency tones of the channel, and configured to evaluate channel response characteristics of the frequency tones; and a channel state indicator configured to generate a channel quality measure usable along with a signal quality measure in adaptively determining a data rate of packetized information transmission, wherein the channel quality measure is generated from the channel response characteristics of the frequency tones and is indicative of frequency selectivity in the wireless channel.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure describes systems and techniques relating to processing a signal received over a wireless channel, for example, deriving a channel quality measure from an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signal to aid in adaptively determining a data rate of packetized information transmission over a wireless channel.

BACKGROUND

Mobile phones, laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), base stations and other systems and devices can wirelessly transmit and receive data. Such systems and devices have used orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) transmission schemes, such as those defined in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802 wireless communications standards. The IEEE 802 standards include IEEE 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.16, and 802.20. In an OFDM system, in particular, a data stream is split into multiple substreams, each of which is sent over a different subcarrier frequency (also referred to as a tone or frequency tone).

Some wireless communication systems use a single-in-single-out (SISO) transmission approach, where both the transmitter and the receiver use a single antenna. Other wireless communication systems use a multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) transmission approach, where multiple transmit antennas and multiple receive antennas to improve data rates and/or link quality. OFDM systems can be implemented as SISO or MIMO communication systems and can provide various advantages, including a relatively simple receiver architecture and potential performance improvements through appropriate coding across OFDM tones.

Despite these advantages, OFDM transmissions, like other wireless transmissions, are susceptible to various signal degrading effects, including fading and multipath effects. The efficiency of transmission over wireless channels, in general, is strongly dependent upon the transmitter's ability to exploit the wireless channel's characteristics. This can be in the form of information-theory based strategies to achieve near-capacity transmission rates or strategies that exploit some coarse measure of the channel properties to select some transmission parameters like modulation formats and code rates to increase the probability of a successful transmission. For example, in Automatic Repeat-reQuest (ARQ) based packet transmission systems, where a packet error results in the need to retransmit the same information until it is correctly received by the receiving device, the data rate for transmission is typically selected based on a signal quality measure (e.g., a received signal strength indication (RSSI)) and a retry rate.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure includes systems and techniques relating to processing a signal received over a wireless channel. According to an aspect of the described systems and techniques, a data rate of packetized information transmission over a wireless channel is adaptively determined based on both a signal quality measure of a received signal and a channel quality measure derived from the received signal, the channel quality measure being indicative of frequency selectivity in the wireless channel. Adaptively determining the data rate can involve using the signal quality measure as a first level determinant of the data rate, and using the channel quality measure as a second level determinant of the data rate. Moreover, the wireless channel can be a radio frequency channel, and the received signal can include an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signal corresponding to multiple frequency tones that make up the radio frequency channel; and the technique can include estimating channel response characteristics of the frequency tones, and deriving the channel quality measure from the estimated channel response characteristics of the frequency tones.

According to another aspect, an apparatus includes a channel estimator configured to be responsive to a received OFDM signal corresponding to multiple frequency tones of a wireless channel, and configured to evaluate channel response characteristics of the frequency tones; and a channel state indicator responsive to output of the channel estimator and configured to generate a channel quality measure usable along with a signal quality measure in adaptively determining a data rate of packetized information transmission over the wireless channel, wherein the channel quality measure is generated from the channel response characteristics of the frequency tones and is indicative of frequency selectivity in the wireless channel.

The apparatus can include a rate controller that adaptively determines the data rate using the signal quality measure as a first level determinant of the data rate and using the channel quality measure as a second level determinant of the data rate. Additionally, the apparatus can include a transmit section compliant with a wireless communication standard selected from the group consisting of IEEE 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.16, and 802.20.

The described systems and techniques can result in increased throughput from reduced transmission errors and thus reduced retransmissions of the same information. A transmitter can adaptively determine a maximum transmission rate with acceptable probability of packet error, and the probability of successful transmission on the first attempt can be improved without starting at an unnecessarily low data rate. This can result in improved rate adaptation mechanisms.

Details of one or more implementations are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects and advantages may be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

DRAWING DESCRIPTIONS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a communication system that adaptively determines a data rate of packetized information transmission over a wireless channel based on both a signal quality measure of a received signal and a channel quality measure derived from the received signal.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of channel response in a OFDM-SISO wireless communications system.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example transceiver that adaptively determines the transmission data rate based on both a signal quality measure of a received signal and a channel quality measure derived from the received signal.

FIG. 4 illustrates adaptive rate determination using the signal quality measure as a first level determinant of the data rate and using the channel quality measure as a second level determinant of the data rate.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of example transceivers in a MIMO-OFDM wireless communications system.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example process communicating packetized information over a radio frequency channel in an OFDM wireless communication system.

Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a communication system 100 that adaptively determines a data rate of packetized information transmission over a wireless channel 130 based on both a signal quality measure of a received signal and a channel quality measure derived from the received signal. The system 100 adapts to changes in the wireless channel 130 and adjusts the transmission data rate accordingly. The communication system 100 can be a single-in-single-out (SISO) system or a multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) system. Thus, a first transceiver 110 can have one or more antennas 112, and a second transceiver 120 can have one or more antennas 122.

Additionally, the transceiver 110 includes a transmit section 114 and a receive section 116, and the transceiver 120 includes a transmit section 124 and a receive section 126. The transceivers 110, 120 are sometimes referred to as transmitters and receivers for convenience, with the understanding that the systems and techniques described are applicable to wireless systems that use dedicated transmitters and receivers as well as transceivers generally.

The packetized information transmission involves the transmission of information over the wireless channel 130 in the form of discrete sections of information 135, often referred to as packets or frames. The system 100 can employ an Automatic Repeat-reQuest (ARQ) protocol. The wireless channel 130 can be a radio frequency channel, and the transmissions over the wireless channel 130 can be orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signals. The transceivers 110, 120 can be implemented in a wireless local area network (WLAN) that complies with one or more of the IEEE 802 wireless standards (including IEEE 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.16, and 802.20).

In general, wireless channels are typically affected by two dominant phenomena (among others) known as fading and multipath effects. These two effects are typically random and time varying, and determine the receiver-signal-to-noise ratio (Rx-SNR). Signal processing techniques for recovering transmitted signals in light of these effects are well known. For example, in 802.11a/g wireless systems, the OFDM modulation mechanism is used, and predefined training symbols are included in the preambles of data frames for use in estimating characteristics of the wireless channel in order to equalize the channel.

In an OFDM modulation approach, the channel bandwidth is divided into narrow slices called tones, and quadrature-amplitude modulated (QAM) symbols are transmitted over the tones. A defined structure to a SISO-OFDM transmitted signal enables the received signal on a tone, Y_k, where k is the tone index, to be written as:Y_k=H_kX_k+N_k  (1)where H_k is the complex valued channel gain, X_k is the QAM symbol transmitted over the tone, and N_k is the frequency domain additive Gaussian distributed white noise. Thus, an estimate of the channel gain at tone k can be obtained at the receiver by dividing Y_k by X_k in the training sequence portion of the received signal.

In addition to the SNR, the channel profile (i.e., the values of the H_k's) also plays an important role in the capacity of the wireless channel. To account for this, the system 100 uses a channel quality measure that is indicative of frequency selectivity in the wireless channel.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of channel response in a SISO-OFDM wireless communications system. A graph 200 plots frequency versus the magnitude of the frequency response of the channel (in decibels (dB)). This represents the channel response at a particular point in time. As shown, the wireless channel exhibits multipath fading that can result in multiple notches in the channel, including potentially very serious notches, such as a frequency notch 210.

In an OFDM system, the data stream is split into multiple substreams, each of which is sent over a different subcarrier frequency (frequency tone). In FIG. 2, the tones are designated by divisions of the channel across the full frequency range shown, and the tones are referenced by k₀ to k_n-1, where N is the number of tones used. Despite this illustration, it should nonetheless be appreciated that the systems and techniques described here can be applied across all sub-bands of the full channel band or across some subset of the sub-bands; for example, in IEEE 802.11a systems, OFDM symbols can include 64 tones (with 48 active tones) indexed as {−32, −31, . . . , −1, 0, 1, . . . , 30, 31}, where 0 is the index of a tone that is not used to transmit information.

Measuring the channel gain at the midpoint of tone k, gives a signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio for tone k as follows:

$\begin{array}{cc}{\mathrm{SNR}}_k=\left(\frac{{\sigma }_x^2}{{\sigma }_n^2}\right){H_k}^2& \left(2\right)\end{array}$ where σ_x² is the variance in signal energy (variance of the transmitted QAM signals), and σ_n² is the noise variance (variance in additive, white Gaussian-distributed noise). Due to multipathing and fading, the channel can have notches (very small values of |H_k|²) in the channel that can seriously degrade the performance of the system. By taking the nature of these notches in the channel into consideration during setting of the data rate for transmission over the wireless channel, system performance can be improved. Thus, a channel quality measure that is indicative of frequency selectivity in the wireless channel, as the wireless channel changes over time, is used in the adaptive determination of the data rate.

A measure of the SNR average across all the tones is a general measure of the ability of the wireless channel to support a certain data rate. Moreover, the geometric mean of the SNRs across all the OFDM tones is generally indicative of frequency selectivity in the wireless channel. Thus, the channel quality measure used can be the geometric mean as given by:GeomSNR=(π_kSNR_k)^1/N  (3)where N is the number of tones and π is the product operation. When expressed in the dB scale:

$\begin{array}{cc}{\mathrm{GeomSNR}}_{\mathrm{dB}}=\left(10/N\right)\sum _k{\log }_{10}\left({\mathrm{SNR}}_k\right)=\left\{\left(10/N\right)\sum _k{\log }_{10}\left({H_k}^2\right)\right\}+\left\{10{\log }_{10}\left(\frac{{\sigma }_x^2}{{\sigma }_n^2}\right)\right\}& \left(4\right)\end{array}$ The geometric SNR has been found to be strongly indicative of the capacity of the channel. An alternative channel quality measure is to extract only the channel component of the geometric SNR (treating the second term above, {10 log₁₀(σ_x²/σ_n²)}, as a constant bias that can be disregarded), thus resulting in a frequency selectivity measure (FSM) in a SISO system as follows:FSM_SISO-dB=(10/N)Σ_k log₁₀(|H_k|²)  (5)Simulations of a wireless communication system have shown that this channel quality measure is a good indication of the geometric SNR and the capacity of the wireless channel, and can be reliably used for rate selection.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example transceiver 300 that adaptively determines the transmission data rate based on both a signal quality measure of a received signal 310 and a channel quality measure derived from the received signal 310. The transceiver 300 includes a physical (PHY) layer and a media access control (MAC) layer. The MAC and PHY components can be integrated into a single device or constructed in separate devices, which can then be operationally connected to form the transceiver 300.

A channel estimator 330 is configured to be responsive to the signal 310 received over a wireless channel through an antenna 320. The received signal 310 can be an OFDM signal corresponding to multiple frequency tones of the wireless channel, and the channel estimator 330 can also be configured to evaluate channel response characteristics of the frequency tones, such as from predefined training symbols in the received signal 310.

A channel state indicator 340 is responsive to output of the channel estimator 330 and can be configured to generate a channel quality measure from the channel response characteristics of the frequency tones, where the channel quality measure is indicative of frequency selectivity in the wireless channel. The channel quality measure can be a geometric mean of SNRs across the frequency tones or, specifically, a frequency selectivity measure, as described above. Moreover, the channel estimator 330 and the channel state indicator 340 can be integrated into the PHY as shown or can be constructed in a separate device that is configured to be operationally connected with the PHY.

The channel quality measure can be used along with a signal quality measure in adaptively determining a data rate of packetized information transmission over the wireless channel. The MAC can include a rate controller 350 that adaptively determines the data rate using the signal quality measure as a first level determinant of the data rate and using the channel quality measure as a second level determinant of the data rate. For example, the rate controller 350 can select an original rate based on the signal quality measure and one or more signal quality thresholds, and the rate controller 350 can then adjust the original rate if the signal quality measure falls within a tolerance range of a signal quality threshold and if the channel quality measure indicates an adjustment is needed.

It is to be appreciated that various divisions of processing tasks into components and various placements of components in the transceiver 300 are possible. In general though, the channel quality measurement can be implemented in the PHY, and the usage of that information (e.g., for determining desired datarate) can be implemented in the PHY or the MAC as desired.

FIG. 4 illustrates adaptive rate determination 400 using the signal quality measure as a first level determinant of the data rate and using the channel quality measure as a second level determinant of the data rate. The signal quality measure can be one or more indications of signal quality generally, such as an overall SNR for the received signal or an RSSI. In the example shown, the signal quality measure is compared with two signal quality thresholds 410, 420 to select a data rate from three possible data rates: zero, one, and two. Thus, when the signal quality measure is in a first range, data rate zero is selected; when the signal quality measure is in a second range, data rate one is selected; and when the signal quality measure is in a third range, data rate two is selected.

However, this original selection is only a provisional selection, since the signal quality measure likely includes uncertainty that causes the rate determination to be potentially sub-optimal when the signal quality measure falls within a tolerance range 430. When the signal quality measure falls within the tolerance range 430 of one of the thresholds 410 and 420, then the channel quality measure is used as a second level determinant of the data rate.

The channel quality measure serves as a check on the accuracy of the signal quality measure and can thus be used to adjust the data rate determined originally based on the signal quality measure. This adjustment can be designed to go in both directions (e.g., decrease an original rate when the channel quality measure falls below a threshold and increase an original rate when the channel quality measure falls above a threshold), or this adjustment can be designed to go in only one direction (e.g., decrease an original rate when the channel quality measure falls below a channel quality threshold). The later case can be illustrated in FIG. 4 by moving the signal quality thresholds 410, 420 to the left until they line up with the lower values of the tolerance ranges 430 (i.e., the signal quality threshold can be set such that falling below the threshold specifies a certain data rate, but falling above the threshold by only a little results in the channel quality measure being taken into consideration).

The available data rates can be many more than three data rates, and the selection of a data rate can be performed using a lookup table 450, which includes columns for signal quality values, channel quality values, and the corresponding data rates to choose. For example, the following sequence logic can be employed in various wireless systems, including an 802.11g wireless system, to use the channel quality measure defined in equation (5) to pick the PHY layer data rate that can be reliably transmitted (i.e., at an acceptable packet error rate):

• • 1. Read the RSSI; based on the RSSI value, read the RSSI→PHY data rate lookup table to determine the data rate R (the lookup table can be interpreted as “pick data rate R if RSSI>δ(R)”).
  • 2. |RSSI−δ(R)|<ε AND FSM_SISO-dB>t, then pick R corresponding to the condition RSSI>δ(R), else pick the next lower rate.

The lookup table 450 can be included in the MAC in the transceiver, and the signal quality measure can be an RSSI that is a direct current (DC) measure of radio frequency (RF) signal strength at an input to an intermediate frequency (IF) amplification stage of the transceiver.

In general, when confidence can be placed solely in the signal quality measure, this value is used to determine the data rate, and otherwise, both the signal quality measure and the channel quality measure are used to determine the data rate. This approach to choosing a data rate can improve the probability of successful packet transmission on the first attempt, and can improve throughput by reducing the probability of retries. Simulations run using the above sequence logic in an 802.11g wireless system have shown considerable improvements in performance, with throughput increasing by as much as 2-3 megabits per second (Mbps), which may be a conservative estimate as the simulations showed a significant drop in packet error events.

The channel quality measures described above for SISO can be generalized to MIMO devices, which operate using M_t transmit antennas and M_r receive antennas. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of example transceivers 510, 520 in a MIMO-OFDM wireless communications system 500. The PHY in the transceiver 510 provides quality measures 550 to the MAC, which in turn provides transmission parameters 560 and data 570 to the PHY.

In a MIMO system, data is transmitted over a wireless channel 530 through multiple antennas. While in SISO-OFDM based systems, the wireless channel 530 manifests in the frequency domain as a complex gain factor H_k, in MIMO-OFDM based systems, the wireless channel 530 manifests as a matrix H_k of dimension M_t×M_r whose elements are complex numbers. Such a system is capable of simultaneously supporting a transmission of a maximum M_t independent data streams.

A measure analogous to the frequency selectivity measure used in SISO systems can be derived for MIMO systems as well. For every tone k, a measure called reciprocal noise enhancement factor (RNEF) can be defined as follows:RNEF_n,k=1/([H_k^HmH_k]⁻¹)_n,n  (6)where n is the spatial index, the superscript Hm stands for the Hermitian operation on matrix H_k, and A_n,n corresponds to an nth diagonal element of any square matrix A.

The frequency selectivity measure can then be written as:FSM_MIMO=[π_n,k(RNEF_n,k)]^(1/nk)  (7)where π_n,k is the product taken over spatial-frequency dimensions. When expressed in decibels, this can be written as:FSM_MIMO-dB=(10/nk)Σ_n,k log₁₀(1/([H_k^HmH_k]⁻¹)_n,n)  (8)The FSM_MIMO-dB measure can be used in the same way as the FSM_SISO-dB measure, and thus similar system components can be used to generate the channel quality measure in a MIMO-OFDM wireless communication system. Additionally, the signal quality measure can be obtained in a MIMO-OFDM wireless communication system using known methods.

In both a MIMO-OFDM system and a SISO-OFDM system, the details involved in determining the signal quality measure and the channel quality measure should include variations as appropriate for the specific system, as will be understood by those skilled in the art, but the overall process of determining the data rate based on these quality measures remains generally the same in both MIMO and SISO systems.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example process of communicating packetized information over a radio frequency channel in an OFDM wireless communication system. This process, and all of the functional operations described in this specification, can be implemented in electronic circuitry, or in computer hardware, firmware, software, or in combinations of them, such as the structural means disclosed in this specification and structural equivalents thereof, including potentially a software program operable to cause one or more machines to perform the operations described. It will be appreciated that the order of operations presented is shown only for the purpose of clarity in this description. No particular order is required for these operations, and some or all of the operations may occur simultaneously in various implementations.

Channel response characteristics of the frequency tones are estimated at 610. This estimation can be performed using predefined training symbols in a received signal, such as those used in 802.11 wireless systems. A channel quality measure, such as described above, is derived from the estimated channel response characteristics of the frequency tones at 620.

A signal quality measure, such as described above, is used as a first level determinant of the data rate at 630. This can involve selecting an original rate based on a received signal strength indication. The channel quality measure is used as a second level determinant of the data rate at 640. This can involve comparing the signal quality measure with a value indicating a range of tolerance, and comparing the channel quality measure with a channel quality threshold when the signal quality measure falls within the tolerance range (this can also be thought of as an uncertainty range, in that there is uncertainty as to whether the selected original data rate is appropriate when the signal quality measure falls within this range).

The packetized information is transmitted over the wireless channel in accordance with the determined data rate at 650. This transmission can be performed in a manner appropriate for the type of OFDM system employed.

A few embodiments have been described in detail above, and various modifications are possible. For example, the present systems and techniques may be combined with one or more of the systems and techniques described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/799,548, filed Mar. 11, 2004 and entitled “A MECHANISM TO IMPROVE QUALITY OF CHANNEL ESTIMATES IN OFDM TRANSMISSIONS”, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/834,745, filed Apr. 28, 2004 and entitled “A METHOD TO MITIGATE INTERCARRIER INTERFERENCE (ICI) IN OFDM SYSTEMS FOR HIGH DATA RATE TRANSMISSIONS”, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/912,829, filed Aug. 5, 2004 and entitled “MIMO-OFDM RECEIVER PROCESSING”.

Other embodiments fall within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. A method comprising: operating multiple transmit antennas and multiple receive antennas to transmit and receive data over a wireless channel for multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) wireless communications;adaptively determining a data rate of packetized information transmission over the wireless channel based on both a signal quality measure of multiple received signals and a channel quality measure derived from the multiple received signals, the channel quality measure being indicative of frequency selectivity in the wireless channel, wherein the multiple received signals are respectively received by the multiple receive antennas; andtransmitting the packetized information over the wireless channel in accordance with the data rate,wherein said adaptively determining comprises using the signal quality measure as a first level determinant of the data rate and using the channel quality measure as a second level determinant of the data rate,wherein using the signal quality measure comprises selecting an original rate based on the signal quality measure and one or more signal quality thresholds, and using the channel quality measure comprises adjusting the original rate if the signal quality measure falls within a tolerance range of a signal quality threshold and if the channel quality measure indicates an adjustment is needed.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the original rate comprises choosing a rate from a lookup table based on the signal quality measure comprising a received signal strength indication, and adjusting the original rate comprises choosing a lower rate from the lookup table if the channel quality measure fails to exceed a channel quality threshold.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless channel comprises a radio frequency channel, and the received signals comprise an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signal corresponding to multiple frequency tones that make up the radio frequency channel.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising: estimating channel response characteristics of the frequency tones; andderiving the channel quality measure from the estimated channel response characteristics of the frequency tones.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein estimating the channel response comprises estimating the channel response from predefined training symbols in one or more of the received signals.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein deriving the channel quality measure comprises calculating a geometric mean of signal-to-noise-ratios across the frequency tones.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein deriving the channel quality measure comprises calculating a geometric mean of reciprocal noise enhancement factors across the frequency tones.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein deriving the channel quality measure comprises calculating a frequency selectivity measure for multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) OFDM wireless communications, the frequency selectivity measure (FSM) being expressible in decibel (dB) scale as FSMMIMO-dB=(10/nk)Σn,k log10(1/([HkHmHk])−1)n,n), where k is a tone index, n is a spatial index, Hk is a complex valued channel gain matrix of the radio frequency channel having dimensions number-of-receive-antennas by number-of-transmit-antennas, superscript Hm stands for Hermitian operation on matrix Hk, and An,n corresponds to an nth diagonal element of matrix A.

9. The method of claim 4, further comprising preparing the packetized information for transmission in compliance with a wireless communication standard selected from the group consisting of IEEE 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.16, and 802.20.

10. A machine-readable medium embodying a program operable to cause one or more machines to perform operations comprising: adaptively determining a data rate of packetized information transmission over a wireless channel based on both a signal quality measure of multiple received signals and a channel quality measure derived from the multiple received signals, the channel quality measure being indicative of frequency selectivity in the wireless channel, wherein the multiple received signals are respectively received by multiple receive antennas configured for multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) wireless communications,wherein said adaptively determining comprises using the signal quality measure as a first level determinant of the data rate and using the channel quality measure as a second level determinant of the data rate,wherein using the signal quality measure comprises selecting an original rate based on the signal quality measure and one or more signal quality thresholds, and using the channel quality measure comprises adjusting the original rate if the signal quality measure falls within a tolerance range of a signal quality threshold and if the channel quality measure indicates an adjustment is needed.

11. The machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein selecting the original rate comprises choosing a rate from a lookup table based on the signal quality measure comprising a received signal strength indication, and adjusting the original rate comprises choosing a lower rate from the lookup table if the channel quality measure fails to exceed a channel quality threshold.

12. The machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the wireless channel comprises a radio frequency channel, and the received signals comprise an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signal corresponding to multiple frequency tones that make up the radio frequency channel.

13. The machine-readable medium of claim 12, further comprising: estimating channel response characteristics of the frequency tones; andderiving the channel quality measure from the estimated channel response characteristics of the frequency tones.

14. The machine-readable medium of claim 13, wherein estimating the channel response comprises estimating the channel response from predefined training symbols in one or more of the received signals.

15. The machine-readable medium of claim 13, wherein deriving the channel quality measure comprises calculating a geometric mean of signal-to-noise-ratios across the frequency tones.

16. The machine-readable medium of claim 13, wherein deriving the channel quality measure comprises calculating a geometric mean of reciprocal noise enhancement factors across the frequency tones.

17. The machine-readable medium of claim 13, wherein deriving the channel quality measure comprises calculating a frequency selectivity measure for multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) OFDM wireless communications, the frequency selectivity measure (FSM) being expressible in decibel (dB) scale as FSMMIMO-dB=(10/nk)Σn,k log10(1/([HkHmHk])−1)n,n), where k is a tone index, n is a spatial index, Hk is a complex valued channel gain matrix of the radio frequency channel having dimensions number-of-receive-antennas by number-of-transmit-antennas, superscript Hm stands for Hermitian operation on matrix Hk, and An,n corresponds to an nth diagonal element of matrix A.

18. The machine-readable medium of claim 13, further comprising preparing the packetized information for transmission in compliance with a wireless communication standard selected from the group consisting of IEEE 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.16, and 802.20.

19. An apparatus comprising: multiple transmit antennas and multiple receive antennas to transmit and receive data over a wireless channel for multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) wireless communications;a channel estimator, communicatively coupled with at least a portion of the multiple antennas, configured to be responsive to multiple signals received over the wireless channel, the received signals comprise an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signal corresponding to multiple frequency tones of the wireless channel, and configured to evaluate channel response characteristics of the frequency tones, wherein the multiple received signals are respectively received by the multiple receive antennas; anda channel state indicator responsive to output of the channel estimator and configured to generate a channel quality measure usable along with a signal quality measure in adaptively determining a data rate of packetized information transmission over the wireless channel, wherein the channel quality measure is generated from the channel response characteristics of the frequency tones and is indicative of frequency selectivity in the wireless channel; anda rate controller that adaptively determines the data rate using the signal quality measure as a first level determinant of the data rate and using the channel quality measure as a second level determinant of the data rate,wherein the rate controller is configured to select an original rate based on the signal quality measure and one or more signal quality thresholds, and the rate controller is further configured to adjust the original rate if the signal quality measure falls within a tolerance range of a signal quality threshold and if the channel quality measure indicates an adjustment is needed.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the channel estimator is further configured to evaluate the channel response characteristics of the frequency tones from predefined training symbols in one or more of the received signals.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the channel state indicator is further configured to generate the channel quality measure comprising a geometric mean of signal-to-noise-ratios across the frequency tones.

22. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the channel state indicator is further configured to generate the channel quality measure comprising a geometric mean of reciprocal noise enhancement factors across the frequency tones.

23. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the channel state indicator is further configured to generate the channel quality measure comprising a frequency selectivity measure for multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) OFDM wireless communications, the frequency selectivity measure (FSM) being expressible in decibel (dB) scale as FSMMIMO-dB=(10/nk)Σn,k log10(1/([HkHmHk])−1)n,n), where k is a tone index, n is a spatial index, Hk is a complex valued channel gain matrix of the wireless channel having dimensions number-of-receive-antennas by number-of-transmit-antennas, superscript Hm stands for Hermitian operation on matrix Hk, and An,n corresponds to an nth diagonal element of matrix A.

24. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the signal quality measure comprises a received signal strength indication, the data rate controller is further configured to choose a first rate from a lookup table if the signal quality measure exceeds the signal quality threshold plus the tolerance range, and the data rate controller is further configured to choose a second rate from the lookup table if the signal quality measure falls within the tolerance range of the signal quality threshold and if the channel quality measure fails to exceed a channel quality threshold, the second rate being lower than the first rate.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising a transmit section compliant with a wireless communication standard selected from the group consisting of IEEE 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.16, and 802.20.

26. An apparatus comprising: means for operating multiple transmit antennas and multiple receive antennas to transmit and receive data over a wireless channel for multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) wireless communications;means for evaluating channel response characteristics of frequency tones of the wireless channel, over which multiple orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signals are respectively received by the multiple receive antennas, based on the received signals;means for generating a channel quality measure from the channel response characteristics of the frequency tones, the channel quality measure being indicative of frequency selectivity in the wireless channel, and the channel quality measure being usable along with a signal quality measure in adaptively determining a data rate of packetized information transmission over the wireless channel, andmeans for adaptively determining the data rate using the signal quality measure as a first level determinant of the data rate and using the channel quality measure as a second level determinant of the data rate,wherein the means for adaptively determining comprises means for selecting an original rate based on the signal quality measure and one or more signal quality thresholds, and the means for adaptively determining comprises means for adjusting the original rate if the signal quality measure falls within a tolerance range of a signal quality threshold and if the channel quality measure indicates an adjustment is needed.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the means for evaluating comprises means for evaluating the channel response characteristics of the frequency tones from predefined training symbols in one or more of the received signals.

28. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the means for generating comprises means for generating the channel quality measure comprising a geometric mean of signal-to-noise-ratios across the frequency tones.

29. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the means for generating comprises means for generating the channel quality measure comprising a geometric mean of reciprocal noise enhancement factors across the frequency tones.

30. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the means for generating comprises means for generating the channel quality measure comprising a frequency selectivity measure for multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) OFDM wireless communications, the frequency selectivity measure (FSM) being expressible in decibel (dB) scale as FSMMIMO-dB=(10/nk)Σn,k log10(1/([HkHmHk])−1)n,n), where k is a tone index, n is a spatial index, Hk is a complex valued channel gain matrix of the wireless channel having dimensions number-of-receive-antennas by number-of-transmit-antennas, superscript Hm stands for Hermitian operation on matrix Hk, and An,n corresponds to an nth diagonal element of matrix A.

31. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the signal quality measure comprises a received signal strength indication, the means for adaptively determining comprises means for choosing a first rate from a lookup table if the signal quality measure exceeds the signal quality threshold plus the tolerance range, and the means for adaptively determining comprises means for choosing a second rate from the lookup table if the signal quality measure falls within the tolerance range of the signal quality threshold and if the channel quality measure fails to exceed a channel quality threshold, the second rate being lower than the first rate.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, further comprising means for preparing the packetized information for transmission compliant with a wireless communication standard selected from the group consisting of IEEE 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.16, and 802.20.

33. A system comprising: a transceiver including a physical (PHY) component and a media access control (MAC) component, wherein the transceiver further includes multiple transmit antennas and multiple receive antennas to transmit and receive data over a wireless channel for multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) wireless communications;a channel estimator included in the PHY component and configured to be responsive to multiple signals received over the wireless channel, the received signals comprise an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signal corresponding to multiple frequency tones of the wireless channel, and configured to evaluate channel response characteristics of the frequency tones, wherein the multiple received signals are respectively received by the multiple receive antennas;a channel state indicator responsive to output of the channel estimator and configured to generate a channel quality measure to be used along with a signal quality measure in adaptively determining a data rate of packetized information transmission over the wireless channel, wherein the channel quality measure is generated from the channel response characteristics of the frequency tones and is indicative of frequency selectivity in the wireless channel; anda rate controller that adaptively determines the data rate using the signal quality measure as a first level determinant of the data rate and using the channel quality measure as a second level determinant of the data rate,wherein the rate controller is configured to select an original rate based on the signal quality measure and one or more signal quality thresholds, and the rate controller is further configured to adjust the original rate if the signal quality measure falls within a tolerance range of a signal quality threshold and if the channel quality measure indicates an adjustment is needed.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the channel estimator is further configured to evaluate the channel response characteristics of the frequency tones from predefined training symbols in one or more of the received signals.

35. The system of claim 33, wherein the channel state indicator is further configured to generate the channel quality measure comprising a geometric mean of signal-to-noise-ratios across the frequency tones.

36. The system of claim 33, wherein the channel state indicator is further configured to generate the channel quality measure comprising a geometric mean of reciprocal noise enhancement factors across the frequency tones.

37. The system of claim 33, wherein the channel state indicator is further configured to generate the channel quality measure comprising a frequency selectivity measure for multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) OFDM wireless communications, the frequency selectivity measure (FSM) being expressible in decibel (dB) scale as FSMMIMO-dB=(10/nk)Σn,k log10(1/([HkHmHk])−1)n,n), where k is a tone index, n is a spatial index, Hk is a complex valued channel gain matrix of the wireless channel having dimensions number-of-receive-antennas by number-of-transmit-antennas, superscript Hm stands for Hermitian operation on matrix Hk, and An,n corresponds to an nth diagonal element of matrix A.

38. The system of claim 33, wherein the signal quality measure comprises a received signal strength indication, the data rate controller is further configured to choose a first rate from a lookup table if the signal quality measure exceeds the signal quality threshold plus the tolerance range, and the data rate controller is further configured to choose a second rate from the lookup table if the signal quality measure falls within the tolerance range of the signal quality threshold and if the channel quality measure fails to exceed a channel quality threshold, the second rate being lower than the first rate.

39. The system of claim 38, further comprising a transmit section compliant with a wireless communication standard selected from the group consisting of IEEE 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.16, and 802.20.

40. A system comprising: means for communicating over a wireless channel, including means for interfacing with the wireless channel and means for controlling access to the wireless channel through the means for interfacing and means for operating multiple transmit antennas and multiple receive antennas to transmit and receive data over the wireless channel for multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) wireless communications;means for evaluating channel response characteristics of frequency tones of the wireless channel, over which orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signals are respectively received by the multiple receive antennas, based on the received signals, the means for evaluating being included in the means for interfacing;means for generating a channel quality measure from the channel response characteristics of the frequency tones, the channel quality measure being indicative of frequency selectivity in the wireless channel, and the channel quality measure being usable along with a signal quality measure in adaptively determining a data rate of packetized information transmission over the wireless channel; andmeans for adaptively determining the data rate using the signal quality measure as a first level determinant of the data rate and using the channel quality measure as a second level determinant of the data rate,wherein the means for adaptively determining comprises means for selecting an original rate based on the signal quality measure and one or more signal quality thresholds, and the means for adaptively determining comprises means for adjusting the original rate if the signal quality measure falls within a tolerance range of a signal quality threshold and if the channel quality measure indicates an adjustment is needed.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein the means for evaluating comprises means for evaluating the channel response characteristics of the frequency tones from predefined training symbols in one or more of the received signals.

42. The system of claim 40, wherein the means for generating comprises means for generating the channel quality measure comprising a geometric mean of signal-to-noise-ratios across the frequency tones.

43. The system of claim 40, wherein the means for generating comprises means for generating the channel quality measure comprising a geometric mean of reciprocal noise enhancement factors across the frequency tones.

44. The system of claim 40, wherein the means for generating comprises means for generating the channel quality measure comprising a frequency selectivity measure for multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) OFDM wireless communications, the frequency selectivity measure (FSM) being expressible in decibel (dB) scale as FSMMIMO-dB=(10/nk)Σn,k log10(1/([HkHmHk])−1)n,n), where k is a tone index, n is a spatial index, Hk is a complex valued channel gain matrix of the wireless channel having dimensions number-of-receive-antennas by number-of-transmit-antennas, superscript Hm stands for Hermitian operation on matrix Hk, and An,n corresponds to an nth diagonal element of matrix A.

45. The system of claim 40, wherein the signal quality measure comprises a received signal strength indication, the means for adaptively determining comprises means for choosing a first rate from a lookup table if the signal quality measure exceeds the signal quality threshold plus the tolerance range, and the means for adaptively determining comprises means for choosing a second rate from the lookup table if the signal quality measure falls within the tolerance range of the signal quality threshold and if the channel quality measure fails to exceed a channel quality threshold, the second rate being lower than the first rate.

46. The system of claim 45, further comprising means for preparing the packetized information for transmission compliant with a wireless communication standard selected from the group consisting of IEEE 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.16, and 802.20.

47. A method comprising: receiving a signal over a wireless channel, wherein the wireless channel comprises a radio frequency channel, and the received signal comprises an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signal corresponding to multiple frequency tones that make up the radio frequency channel;adaptively determining a data rate of packetized information transmission over the wireless channel based on both a signal quality measure of the received signal and a channel quality measure derived from the received signal, the channel quality measure being indicative of frequency selectivity in the wireless channel, wherein the adaptively determining further comprises: estimating channel response characteristics of the frequency tones;deriving the channel quality measure from the estimated channel response characteristics of the frequency tones;using the signal quality measure as a first level determinant of the adaptively determined data rate by at least selecting an original rate based on the signal quality measure and multiple signal quality thresholds; andusing the channel quality measure as a second level determinant of the adaptively determined data rate by at least adjusting the original rate if the signal quality measure falls within a tolerance range of a signal quality threshold and if the channel quality measure indicates an adjustment is needed; andtransmitting the packetized information over the wireless channel in accordance with the adaptively determined data rate.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein selecting the original rate comprises choosing a rate from a lookup table based on the signal quality measure comprising a received signal strength indication, and adjusting the original rate comprises choosing a lower rate from the lookup table if the channel quality measure fails to exceed a channel quality threshold.

49. The method of claim 47, wherein estimating the channel response comprises estimating the channel response from predefined training symbols in the received signal.

50. The method of claim 47, wherein deriving the channel quality measure comprises calculating a geometric mean of signal-to-noise-ratios across the frequency tones.

51. The method of claim 47, wherein deriving the channel quality measure comprises calculating a frequency selectivity measure for single-in-single-out (SISO) OFDM wireless communications, the frequency selectivity measure (FSM) being expressible in decibel (dB) scale as FSMSISO-dB=(10/N)Σk log10(|Hk|2), where N is a number of the frequency tones, k is a tone index, and Hk is a complex valued channel gain of the radio frequency channel.

52. An apparatus comprising: a channel estimator configured to be responsive to a signal received over a wireless channel, the received signal comprising an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signal corresponding to multiple frequency tones of the wireless channel, and configured to evaluate channel response characteristics of the frequency tones; anda channel state indicator responsive to output of the channel estimator and configured to generate a channel quality measure usable along with a signal quality measure in adaptively determining a data rate of packetized information transmission over the wireless channel, wherein the channel quality measure is generated from the channel response characteristics of the frequency tones and is indicative of frequency selectivity in the wireless channel, wherein adaptively determining the data rate comprises: using the signal quality measure as a first level determinant of the adaptively determined data rate by at least selecting an original rate based on the signal quality measure and multiple signal quality thresholds; andusing the channel quality measure as a second level determinant of the adaptively determined data rate by at least adjusting the original rate if the signal quality measure falls within a tolerance range of a signal quality threshold and if the channel quality measure indicates an adjustment is needed.

53. The apparatus of claim 52, wherein the channel state indicator is further configured to generate the channel quality measure comprising a frequency selectivity measure for single-in-single-out (SISO) OFDM wireless communications, the frequency selectivity measure (FSM) being expressible in decibel (dB) scale as FSMSISO-dB=(10/N)Σk log10(|Hk|2), where N is a number of the frequency tones, k is a tone index, and Hk is a complex valued channel gain of the wireless channel.

54. A machine-readable medium embodying a program operable to cause one or more machines to perform operations comprising: adaptively determining a data rate of packetized information transmission over a wireless channel based on both a signal quality measure of a received signal and a channel quality measure derived from the received signal, the channel quality measure being indicative of frequency selectivity in the wireless channel, wherein the wireless channel comprises a radio frequency channel, and the received signals comprise an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signal corresponding to multiple frequency tones that make up the radio frequency channel;estimating channel response characteristics of the frequency tones; andderiving the channel quality measure from the estimated channel response characteristics of the frequency tones, wherein deriving the channel quality measure comprises calculating a frequency selectivity measure for single-in-single-out (SISO) OFDM wireless communications, the frequency selectivity measure (FSM) being expressible in decibel (dB) scale as FSMSISO-dB=(10/N)Σk log10(|Hk|2), where N is a number of the frequency tones, k is a tone index, and Hk is a complex valued channel gain of the radio frequency channel.

55. The machine-readable medium of claim 54, wherein the frequency selectivity measure includes an additional additive term being expressed as

56. An apparatus comprising: a channel estimator configured to be responsive to a signal received over a wireless channel, the received signal comprising an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signal corresponding to multiple frequency tones of the wireless channel, and configured to evaluate channel response characteristics of the frequency tones; anda channel state indicator responsive to output of the channel estimator and configured to generate a channel quality measure usable along with a signal quality measure in adaptively determining a data rate of packetized information transmission over the wireless channel, wherein the channel quality measure is generated from the channel response characteristics of the frequency tones and is indicative of frequency selectivity in the wireless channel,wherein the channel state indicator is further configured to generate the channel quality measure comprising a frequency selectivity measure for single-in-single-out (SISO) OFDM wireless communications, the frequency selectivity measure (FSM) being expressible in decibel (dB) scale as FSMSISO-dB=(10/N)Σk log10(|Hk|2), where N is a number of the frequency tones, k is a tone index, and Hk is a complex valued channel gain of the wireless channel.

57. The apparatus of claim 56, wherein the frequency selectivity measure includes an additional additive term being expressed as

58. The apparatus of claim 56, further comprising a rate controller that adaptively determines the data rate using the signal quality measure as a first level determinant of the data rate and using the channel quality measure as a second level determinant of the data rate.

59. An apparatus comprising: means for evaluating channel response characteristics of frequency tones of a wireless channel, over which an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signal is received, based on the received signal; andmeans for generating a channel quality measure from the channel response characteristics of the frequency tones, the channel quality measure being indicative of frequency selectivity in the wireless channel, and the channel quality measure being usable along with a signal quality measure in adaptively determining a data rate of packetized information transmission over the wireless channel,wherein the means for generating comprises means for generating the channel quality measure comprising a frequency selectivity measure for single-in-single-out (SISO) OFDM wireless communications, the frequency selectivity measure (FSM) being expressible in decibel (dB) scale as FSMSISO-dB=(10/N)Σk log10(|Hk|2), where N is a number of the frequency tones, k is a tone index, and Hk is a complex valued channel gain of the wireless channel.

60. The apparatus of claim 59, wherein the frequency selectivity measure includes an additional additive term being expressed as

61. The apparatus of claim 59, further comprising means for adaptively determining the data rate using the signal quality measure as a first level determinant of the data rate and using the channel quality measure as a second level determinant of the data rate.

62. A system comprising: a transceiver including a physical (PHY) component and a media access control (MAC) component;a channel estimator included in the PHY component and configured to be responsive to a signal received over a wireless channel, the received signal comprising an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signal corresponding to multiple frequency tones of the wireless channel, and configured to evaluate channel response characteristics of the frequency tones; anda channel state indicator responsive to output of the channel estimator and configured to generate a channel quality measure to be used along with a signal quality measure in adaptively determining a data rate of packetized information transmission over the wireless channel, wherein the channel quality measure is generated from the channel response characteristics of the frequency tones and is indicative of frequency selectivity in the wireless channel,wherein the channel state indicator is further configured to generate the channel quality measure comprising a frequency selectivity measure for single-in-single-out (SISO) OFDM wireless communications, the frequency selectivity measure (FSM) being expressible in decibel (dB) scale as FSMSISO-dB=(10/N)Σk log10(|Hk|2), where N is a number of the frequency tones, k is a tone index, and Hk is a complex valued channel gain of the wireless channel.

63. The system of claim 62, wherein the frequency selectivity measure includes an additional additive term being expressed as

64. The system of claim 62, further comprising a rate controller that adaptively determines the data rate using the signal quality measure as a first level determinant of the data rate and using the channel quality measure as a second level determinant of the data rate.

65. A system comprising: means for communicating over a wireless channel, including means for interfacing with the wireless channel and means for controlling access to the wireless channel through the means for interfacing;means for evaluating channel response characteristics of frequency tones of the wireless channel, over which an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signal is received, based on the received signal, the means for evaluating being included in the means for interfacing; andmeans for generating a channel quality measure from the channel response characteristics of the frequency tones, the channel quality measure being indicative of frequency selectivity in the wireless channel, and the channel quality measure being usable along with a signal quality measure in adaptively determining a data rate of packetized information transmission over the wireless channel,wherein the means for generating comprises means for generating the channel quality measure comprising a frequency selectivity measure for single-in-single-out (SISO) OFDM wireless communications, the frequency selectivity measure (FSM) being expressible in decibel (dB) scale as FSMSISO-dB=(10/N)Σk log10(|Hk|2), where N is a number of the frequency tones, k is a tone index, and Hk is a complex valued channel gain of the wireless channel.

66. The system of claim 65, wherein the frequency selectivity measure includes an additional additive term being expressed as

67. The system of claim 65, further comprising means for adaptively determining the data rate using the signal quality measure as a first level determinant of the data rate and using the channel quality measure as a second level determinant of the data rate.