Method for antenna array partitioning

1. A method comprising:

in a wireless communication system, grouping two or more antennas from a plurality of antennas at a wireless device into a first set of partitions;

grouping two or more antennas from the plurality of antennas into a second set of partitions;

assigning a first set of subcarriers to the first set of partitions according a transmission scheme that subdivides the transmit frequency band into subcarriers;

assigning a second set of subcarriers to the second set of partitions according the transmission scheme;

wherein the first and second sets of subcarriers are assigned according to orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) techniques;

performing beamforming using the first set of subcarriers and space-time coding to transmit wireless signals via the antennas grouped into the first set of partitions for a first time period;

performing beamforming using the second set of subcarriers and space-time coding to transmit wireless signals via the antennas grouped into the second set of partitions for a second time period; and

setting the first time period and the second time period to correspond to a multiple of a duration of a symbol transmission time period of the wireless signals, wherein the first and second time periods have different durations; and

wherein grouping the two or more antennas into the first set of partitions and into the second set of partitions is repeated so as to hop between the first and second sets of partitions of antennas during subsequent time periods for transmitting wireless signals.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second sets of partitions are selected pseudo-randomly.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second sets of partitions are selected without regard to changes over time of wireless channels in the wireless communication system.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second sets of partitions have different numbers of antennas.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second time periods have different durations.

6. A method comprising:

in a wireless communication system, grouping two or more antennas from a plurality of antennas at a wireless device into a first set of partitions;

grouping two or more antennas from the plurality of antennas into a second set of partitions;

assigning a first set of subcarriers to the first set of partitions according a transmission scheme that subdivides the transmit frequency band into subcarriers;

assigning a second set of subcarriers to the second set of partitions according the transmission scheme;

wherein the first and second sets of subcarriers are assigned according to orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) techniques;

performing beamforming using the first set of subcarriers and space-time coding to transmit wireless signals via the antennas grouped into the first set of partitions in a first slot of channel resources defined by a first time period and the first set of subcarriers in a first frequency range;

performing beamforming using the first set of subcarriers and space-time coding to transmit wireless signals via the antennas grouped into the second set of partitions in a second slot of channel resources defined by a second time period and the second set of subcarriers in a second frequency range, wherein the second time period follows the first time period; and

setting the first time period and the second time period to correspond to a multiple of a duration of a symbol transmission time period of the wireless signals, wherein the first and second time periods have different durations; and

wherein grouping the two or more antennas into the first set of partitions and into the second set of partitions is repeated so as to hop between the first and second sets of partitions of antennas during subsequent time periods for transmitting wireless signals.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first and second sets of partitions are selected pseudo-randomly.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first and second sets of partitions are selected without regard to changes over time of wireless channels in the wireless communication system.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first and second sets of partitions have different numbers of antennas.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first and second frequency ranges have different bandwidths.

11. A system comprising:

a plurality of antennas at a wireless device in a wireless communications system, two or more of which are grouped into at least a first set of partitions and a second set of partitions; and

a wireless node configured to receive wireless signals from the antennas;

wherein the wireless device is configured to transmit the wireless signals using a combination of beamforming and space-time code techniques via virtual antennas defined by the first set of partitions for a first time period and by the second set of partitions for a second time period, the first time period and the second time period being set to correspond to a multiple of a duration of a symbol transmission time period of the wireless signals, wherein the first and second time periods have different durations; and

wherein the wireless device is configured to assign, according to orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) techniques, a first set of subcarriers for use in transmitting the wireless signals via the first set of partitions for a duration of the first time period and a second set of subcarriers for use in transmitting the wireless signals via the second set of partitions for a duration of the second time period;

wherein the wireless device is further configured to repeat the grouping of the two or more antennas into the first set of partitions and into the second set of partitions so as to hop between the first and second sets of partitions of antennas during subsequent time periods for transmitting wireless signals.

12. The wireless communication system of claim 11 , wherein the first and second sets of partitions are selected pseudo-randomly.

13. The wireless communication system of claim 11 , wherein the first and second sets of partitions are selected without regard to changes over time of wireless channels in the wireless communication system.

14. The wireless communication system of claim 11 , wherein the first and second sets of partitions have different numbers of antennas.