  We consider a multicast scenario involving an ad hoc network of co-channel
MIMO nodes in which a source node attempts to share a streaming message with
all nodes in the network via some pre-defined multi-hop routing tree. The
message is assumed to be broken down into packets, and the transmission is
conducted over multiple frames. Each frame is divided into time slots, and each
link in the routing tree is assigned one time slot in which to transmit its
current packet. We present an algorithm for determining the number of time
slots and the scheduling of the links in these time slots in order to optimize
the connectivity of the network, which we define to be the probability that all
links can achieve the required throughput. In addition to time multiplexing,
the MIMO nodes also employ beamforming to manage interference when links are
simultaneously active, and the beamformers are designed with the maximum
connectivity metric in mind. The effects of outdated channel state information
(CSI) are taken into account in both the scheduling and the beamforming
designs. We also derive bounds on the network connectivity and sum transmit
power in order to illustrate the impact of interference on network performance.
Our simulation results demonstrate that the choice of the number of time slots
is critical in optimizing network performance, and illustrate the significant
advantage provided by multiple antennas in improving network connectivity.
