Interference Alignment via Message-Passing

We introduce an iterative solution to the problem of interference alignment (IA) over MIMO channels based on a message-passing formulation. We propose a parameterization of the messages that enables the computation of IA precoders by a min-sum algorithm over continuous variable spaces -- under this parameterization, suitable approximations of the messages can be computed in closed-form. We show that the iterative leakage minimization algorithm of Cadambe et al. is a special case of our message-passing algorithm, obtained for a particular schedule. Finally, we show that the proposed algorithm compares favorably to iterative leakage minimization in terms of convergence speed, and discuss a distributed implementation.Comment: Submitted to the IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC) 201

Topological Interference Management With Decoded Message Passing

The topological interference management (TIM) problem studies partially-connected interference networks with no channel state information except for the network topology (i.e., connectivity graph) at the transmitters. In this paper, we consider a similar problem in the uplink cellular networks, while message passing is enabled at the receivers (e.g., base stations), so that the decoded messages can be routed to other receivers via backhaul links to help further improve network performance. For this TIM problem with decoded message passing (TIM-MP), we model the interference pattern by conflict digraphs, connect orthogonal access to the acyclic set coloring on conflict digraphs, and show that one-to-one interference alignment boils down to orthogonal access because of message passing. With the aid of polyhedral combinatorics, we identify the structural properties of certain classes of network topologies where orthogonal access achieves the optimal degrees-of-freedom (DoF) region in the information-theoretic sense. The relation to the conventional index coding with simultaneous decoding is also investigated by formulating a generalized index coding problem with successive decoding as a result of decoded message passing. The properties of reducibility and criticality are also studied, by which we are able to prove the linear optimality of orthogonal access in terms of symmetric DoF for the networks up to four users with all possible network topologies (218 instances). Practical issues of the tradeoff between the overhead of message passing and the achievable symmetric DoF are also discussed, in the hope of facilitating efficient backhaul utilization

Cellular Interference Alignment

Interference alignment promises that, in Gaussian interference channels, each link can support half of a degree of freedom (DoF) per pair of transmit-receive antennas. However, in general, this result requires to precode the data bearing signals over a signal space of asymptotically large diversity, e.g., over an infinite number of dimensions for time-frequency varying fading channels, or over an infinite number of rationally independent signal levels, in the case of time-frequency invariant channels. In this work we consider a wireless cellular system scenario where the promised optimal DoFs are achieved with linear precoding in one-shot (i.e., over a single time-frequency slot). We focus on the uplink of a symmetric cellular system, where each cell is split into three sectors with orthogonal intra-sector multiple access. In our model, interference is "local", i.e., it is due to transmitters in neighboring cells only. We consider a message-passing backhaul network architecture, in which nearby sectors can exchange already decoded messages and propose an alignment solution that can achieve the optimal DoFs. To avoid signaling schemes relying on the strength of interference, we further introduce the notion of \emph{topologically robust} schemes, which are able to guarantee a minimum rate (or DoFs) irrespectively of the strength of the interfering links. Towards this end, we design an alignment scheme which is topologically robust and still achieves the same optimum DoFs

Interference Alignment in Regenerating Codes for Distributed Storage: Necessity and Code Constructions

Regenerating codes are a class of recently developed codes for distributed storage that, like Reed-Solomon codes, permit data recovery from any arbitrary k of n nodes. However regenerating codes possess in addition, the ability to repair a failed node by connecting to any arbitrary d nodes and downloading an amount of data that is typically far less than the size of the data file. This amount of download is termed the repair bandwidth. Minimum storage regenerating (MSR) codes are a subclass of regenerating codes that require the least amount of network storage; every such code is a maximum distance separable (MDS) code. Further, when a replacement node stores data identical to that in the failed node, the repair is termed as exact. The four principal results of the paper are (a) the explicit construction of a class of MDS codes for d = n-1 >= 2k-1 termed the MISER code, that achieves the cut-set bound on the repair bandwidth for the exact-repair of systematic nodes, (b) proof of the necessity of interference alignment in exact-repair MSR codes, (c) a proof showing the impossibility of constructing linear, exact-repair MSR codes for d < 2k-3 in the absence of symbol extension, and (d) the construction, also explicit, of MSR codes for d = k+1. Interference alignment (IA) is a theme that runs throughout the paper: the MISER code is built on the principles of IA and IA is also a crucial component to the non-existence proof for d < 2k-3. To the best of our knowledge, the constructions presented in this paper are the first, explicit constructions of regenerating codes that achieve the cut-set bound.Comment: 38 pages, 12 figures, submitted to the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory;v3 - The title has been modified to better reflect the contributions of the submission. The paper is extensively revised with several carefully constructed figures and example

Distributed probabilistic-data-association-based soft reception employing base station cooperation in MIMO-aided multiuser multicell systems

Intercell cochannel interference (CCI) mitigation is investigated in the context of cellular systems relying on dense frequency reuse (FR). A distributed base-station (BS)-cooperation-aided soft reception scheme using the probabilistic data association (PDA) algorithm and soft combining (SC) is proposed for the uplink of multiuser multicell MIMO systems. The realistic 19-cell hexagonal cellular model relying on unity FR is considered, where both the BSs and the mobile stations (MSs) are equipped with multiple antennas. Local-cooperation-based message passing is used, instead of a global message passing chain for the sake of reducing the backhaul traffic. The PDA algorithm is employed as a low-complexity solution for producing soft information, which facilitates the employment of SC at the individual BSs to generate the final soft decision metric. Our simulations and analysis demonstrate that, despite its low additional complexity and backhaul traffic, the proposed distributed PDA-aided SC (DPDA-SC) reception scheme significantly outperforms the conventional noncooperative benchmarkers. Furthermore, since only the index of the possible discrete value of the quantized converged soft information has to be exchanged for SC in practice, the proposed DPDA-SC scheme is relatively robust to the quantization errors of the soft information exchanged. As a beneficial result, the backhaul traffic is dramatically reduced at negligible performance degradation

A class of index coding problems with rate 1/3

An index coding problem with $n$ messages has symmetric rate $R$ if all $n$ messages can be conveyed at rate $R$. In a recent work, a class of index coding problems for which symmetric rate $\frac{1}{3}$ is achievable was characterised using special properties of the side-information available at the receivers. In this paper, we show a larger class of index coding problems (which includes the previous class of problems) for which symmetric rate $\frac{1}{3}$ is achievable. In the process, we also obtain a stricter necessary condition for rate $\frac{1}{3}$ feasibility than what is known in literature.Comment: Shorter version submitted to ISIT 201

Interference Alignment for the Multi-Antenna Compound Wiretap Channel

We study a wiretap channel model where the sender has $M$ transmit antennas and there are two groups consisting of $J_1$ and $J_2$ receivers respectively. Each receiver has a single antenna. We consider two scenarios. First we consider the compound wiretap model -- group 1 constitutes the set of legitimate receivers, all interested in a common message, whereas group 2 is the set of eavesdroppers. We establish new lower and upper bounds on the secure degrees of freedom. Our lower bound is based on the recently proposed \emph{real interference alignment} scheme. The upper bound provides the first known example which illustrates that the \emph{pairwise upper bound} used in earlier works is not tight. The second scenario we study is the compound private broadcast channel. Each group is interested in a message that must be protected from the other group. Upper and lower bounds on the degrees of freedom are developed by extending the results on the compound wiretap channel.Comment: Minor edits. Submitted to IEEE Trans. Inf. Theor