Delay Performance of the Multiuser MISO Downlink under Imperfect CSI and Finite Length Coding

We use stochastic network calculus to investigate the delay performance of a multiuser MISO system with zero-forcing beamforming. First, we consider ideal assumptions with long codewords and perfect CSI at the transmitter, where we observe a strong channel hardening effect that results in very high reliability with respect to the maximum delay of the application. We then study the system under more realistic assumptions with imperfect CSI and finite blocklength channel coding. These effects lead to interference and to transmission errors, and we derive closed-form lower and upper bounds on the resulting error probability. Compared to the ideal case, imperfect CSI and finite length coding cause massive degradations in the average transmission rate. Surprisingly, the system nevertheless maintains the same qualitative behavior as in the ideal case: as long as the average transmission rate is higher than the arrival rate, the system can still achieve very high reliability with respect to the maximum delay

Rate Analysis of Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communications in Random Wireless Networks

In this letter, we analyze the achievable rate of ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) in a randomly modeled wireless network. We use two mathematical tools to properly characterize the considered system: i) stochastic geometry to model spatial locations of the transmitters in a network, and ii) finite block-length analysis to reflect the features of the short-packets. Exploiting these tools, we derive an integral-form expression of the decoding error probability as a function of the target rate, the path-loss exponent, the communication range, the density, and the channel coding length. We also obtain a tight approximation as a closed-form. The main finding from the analytical results is that, in URLLC, increasing the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) brings significant improvement of the rate performance compared to increasing the channel coding length. Via simulations, we show that fractional frequency reuse improves the area spectral efficiency by reducing the amount of mutual interference

Delay Violation Probability and Effective Rate of Downlink NOMA over α\alpha-μ\mu Fading Channels

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is a potential candidate to further enhance the spectrum utilization efficiency in beyond fifth-generation (B5G) standards. However, there has been little attention on the quantification of the delay-limited performance of downlink NOMA systems. In this paper, we analyze the performance of a two-user downlink NOMA system over generalized {\alpha}-{\mu} fading in terms of delay violation probability (DVP) and effective rate (ER). In particular, we derive an analytical expression for an upper bound on the DVP and we derive the exact sum ER of the downlink NOMA system. We also derive analytical expressions for high and low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) approximations to the sum ER, as well as a fundamental upper bound on the sum ER which represents the ergodic sum-rate for the downlink NOMA system. We also analyze the sum ER of a corresponding time-division-multiplexed orthogonal multiple access (OMA) system. Our results show that while NOMA consistently outperforms OMA over the practical SNR range, the relative gain becomes smaller in more severe fading conditions, and is also smaller in the presence a more strict delay quality-of-service (QoS) constraint.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figure

NOMA in the Uplink: Delay Analysis with Imperfect CSI and Finite-Length Coding

We study whether using non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) in the uplink of a mobile network can improve the performance over orthogonal multiple access (OMA) when the system requires ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC). To answer this question, we first consider an ideal system model with perfect channel state information (CSI) at the transmitter and long codewords, where we determine the optimal decoding orders when the decoder uses successive interference cancellation (SIC) and derive closed-form expressions for the optimal rate when joint decoding is used. While joint decoding performs well even under tight delay constraints, NOMA with SIC decoding often performs worse than OMA. For low-latency systems, we must also consider the impact of finite-length channel coding, as well as rate adaptation based imperfect CSI. We derive closed-form approximations for the corresponding outage or error probabilities and find that those effects create a larger performance penalty for NOMA than for OMA. Thus, NOMA with SIC decoding may often be unsuitable for URLLC

Balancing Queueing and Retransmission: Latency-Optimal Massive MIMO Design

One fundamental challenge in 5G URLLC is how to optimize massive MIMO systems for achieving low latency and high reliability. A natural design choice to maximize reliability and minimize retransmission is to select the lowest allowed target error rate. However, the overall latency is the sum of queueing latency and retransmission latency, hence choosing the lowest target error rate does not always minimize the overall latency. In this paper, we minimize the overall latency by jointly designing the target error rate and transmission rate adaptation, which leads to a fundamental tradeoff point between queueing and retransmission latency. This design problem can be formulated as a Markov decision process, which is theoretically optimal, but its complexity is prohibitively high for real-system deployments. We managed to develop a low-complexity closed-form policy named Large-arraY Reliability and Rate Control (LYRRC), which is proven to be asymptotically latency-optimal as the number of antennas increases. In LYRRC, the transmission rate is twice of the arrival rate, and the target error rate is a function of the antenna number, arrival rate, and channel estimation error. With simulated and measured channels, our evaluations find LYRRC satisfies the latency and reliability requirements of URLLC in all the tested scenarios.Comment: This work has been submitted to the IEEE for possible publication. Copyright may be transferred without notice, after which this version may no longer be accessible. Accepted by IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communicatio

A Tutorial on Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communications in 6G: Integrating Domain Knowledge into Deep Learning

As one of the key communication scenarios in the 5th and also the 6th generation (6G) of mobile communication networks, ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC) will be central for the development of various emerging mission-critical applications. State-of-the-art mobile communication systems do not fulfill the end-to-end delay and overall reliability requirements of URLLC. In particular, a holistic framework that takes into account latency, reliability, availability, scalability, and decision making under uncertainty is lacking. Driven by recent breakthroughs in deep neural networks, deep learning algorithms have been considered as promising ways of developing enabling technologies for URLLC in future 6G networks. This tutorial illustrates how domain knowledge (models, analytical tools, and optimization frameworks) of communications and networking can be integrated into different kinds of deep learning algorithms for URLLC. We first provide some background of URLLC and review promising network architectures and deep learning frameworks for 6G. To better illustrate how to improve learning algorithms with domain knowledge, we revisit model-based analytical tools and cross-layer optimization frameworks for URLLC. Following that, we examine the potential of applying supervised/unsupervised deep learning and deep reinforcement learning in URLLC and summarize related open problems. Finally, we provide simulation and experimental results to validate the effectiveness of different learning algorithms and discuss future directions.Comment: This work has been accepted by Proceedings of the IEE