Opportunistic Interference Mitigation Achieves Optimal Degrees-of-Freedom in Wireless Multi-cell Uplink Networks

We introduce an opportunistic interference mitigation (OIM) protocol, where a user scheduling strategy is utilized in $K$-cell uplink networks with time-invariant channel coefficients and base stations (BSs) having $M$ antennas. Each BS opportunistically selects a set of users who generate the minimum interference to the other BSs. Two OIM protocols are shown according to the number $S$ of simultaneously transmitting users per cell: opportunistic interference nulling (OIN) and opportunistic interference alignment (OIA). Then, their performance is analyzed in terms of degrees-of-freedom (DoFs). As our main result, it is shown that $KM$ DoFs are achievable under the OIN protocol with $M$ selected users per cell, if the total number $N$ of users in a cell scales at least as $\text{SNR}^{(K-1)M}$. Similarly, it turns out that the OIA scheme with $S$($<M$) selected users achieves $KS$ DoFs, if $N$ scales faster than $\text{SNR}^{(K-1)S}$. These results indicate that there exists a trade-off between the achievable DoFs and the minimum required $N$. By deriving the corresponding upper bound on the DoFs, it is shown that the OIN scheme is DoF optimal. Finally, numerical evaluation, a two-step scheduling method, and the extension to multi-carrier scenarios are shown.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures, Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Communication

Degrees of Freedom of Full-Duplex Multiantenna Cellular Networks

We study the degrees of freedom (DoF) of cellular networks in which a full duplex (FD) base station (BS) equipped with multiple transmit and receive antennas communicates with multiple mobile users. We consider two different scenarios. In the first scenario, we study the case when half duplex (HD) users, partitioned to either the uplink (UL) set or the downlink (DL) set, simultaneously communicate with the FD BS. In the second scenario, we study the case when FD users simultaneously communicate UL and DL data with the FD BS. Unlike conventional HD only systems, inter-user interference (within the cell) may severely limit the DoF, and must be carefully taken into account. With the goal of providing theoretical guidelines for designing such FD systems, we completely characterize the sum DoF of each of the two different FD cellular networks by developing an achievable scheme and obtaining a matching upper bound. The key idea of the proposed scheme is to carefully allocate UL and DL information streams using interference alignment and beamforming techniques. By comparing the DoFs of the considered FD systems with those of the conventional HD systems, we establish the DoF gain by enabling FD operation in various configurations. As a consequence of the result, we show that the DoF can approach the two-fold gain over the HD systems when the number of users becomes large enough as compared to the number of antennas at the BS.Comment: 21 pages, 16 figures, a shorter version of this paper has been submitted to the IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT) 201

Degrees of Freedom of Uplink-Downlink Multiantenna Cellular Networks

An uplink-downlink two-cell cellular network is studied in which the first base station (BS) with $M_1$ antennas receives independent messages from its $N_1$ serving users, while the second BS with $M_2$ antennas transmits independent messages to its $N_2$ serving users. That is, the first and second cells operate as uplink and downlink, respectively. Each user is assumed to have a single antenna. Under this uplink-downlink setting, the sum degrees of freedom (DoF) is completely characterized as the minimum of $(N_1N_2+\min(M_1,N_1)(N_1-N_2)^++\min(M_2,N_2)(N_2-N_1)^+)/\max(N_1,N_2)$, $M_1+N_2,M_2+N_1$, $\max(M_1,M_2)$, and $\max(N_1,N_2)$, where $a^+$ denotes $\max(0,a)$. The result demonstrates that, for a broad class of network configurations, operating one of the two cells as uplink and the other cell as downlink can strictly improve the sum DoF compared to the conventional uplink or downlink operation, in which both cells operate as either uplink or downlink. The DoF gain from such uplink-downlink operation is further shown to be achievable for heterogeneous cellular networks having hotspots and with delayed channel state information.Comment: 22 pages, 11 figures, in revision for IEEE Transactions on Information Theor

Fundamental Limits of Cooperation

Cooperation is viewed as a key ingredient for interference management in wireless systems. This paper shows that cooperation has fundamental limitations. The main result is that even full cooperation between transmitters cannot in general change an interference-limited network to a noise-limited network. The key idea is that there exists a spectral efficiency upper bound that is independent of the transmit power. First, a spectral efficiency upper bound is established for systems that rely on pilot-assisted channel estimation; in this framework, cooperation is shown to be possible only within clusters of limited size, which are subject to out-of-cluster interference whose power scales with that of the in-cluster signals. Second, an upper bound is also shown to exist when cooperation is through noncoherent communication; thus, the spectral efficiency limitation is not a by-product of the reliance on pilot-assisted channel estimation. Consequently, existing literature that routinely assumes the high-power spectral efficiency scales with the log of the transmit power provides only a partial characterization. The complete characterization proposed in this paper subdivides the high-power regime into a degrees-of-freedom regime, where the scaling with the log of the transmit power holds approximately, and a saturation regime, where the spectral efficiency hits a ceiling that is independent of the power. Using a cellular system as an example, it is demonstrated that the spectral efficiency saturates at power levels of operational relevance.Comment: 27 page