Interference Mitigation for Cognitive Radio MIMO Systems Based on Practical Precoding

In this paper, we propose two subspace-projection-based precoding schemes, namely, full-projection (FP)- and partial-projection (PP)-based precoding, for a cognitive radio multiple-input multiple-output (CR-MIMO) network to mitigate its interference to a primary time-division-duplexing (TDD) system. The proposed precoding schemes are capable of estimating interference channels between CR and primary networks, and incorporating the interference from the primary to the CR system into CR precoding via a novel sensing approach. Then, the CR performance and resulting interference of the proposed precoding schemes are analyzed and evaluated. By fully projecting the CR transmission onto a null space of the interference channels, the FP-based precoding scheme can effectively avoid interfering the primary system with boosted CR throughput. While, the PP-based scheme is able to further improve the CR throughput by partially projecting its transmission onto the null space.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, submitted to the IEEE Trans. Wireless Communications in April 201

Symbol Based Precoding in The Downlink of Cognitive MISO Channels

This paper proposes symbol level precoding in the downlink of a MISO cognitive system. The new scheme tries to jointly utilize the data and channel information to design a precoding that minimizes the transmit power at a cognitive base station (CBS); without violating the interference temperature constraint imposed by the primary system. In this framework, the data information is handled at symbol level which enables the characterization the intra-user interference among the cognitive users as an additional source of useful energy that should be exploited. A relation between the constructive multiuser transmissions and physical-layer multicast system is established. Extensive simulations are performed to validate the proposed technique and compare it with conventional techniques.Comment: CROWNCOM 201

Interference modelling and management for cognitive radio networks

Radio spectrum is becoming increasingly scarce as more and more devices go wireless. Meanwhile, studies indicate that the assigned spectrum is not fully utilised. Cognitive radio (CR) technology is envisioned to be a promising solution to address the imbalance between spectrum scarcity and spectrum underutilisation. It improves the spectrum utilisation by reusing the unused or underutilised spectrum owned by incumbent systems (primary systems). With the introduction of CR networks, two types of interference originating from CR networks are introduced. They are the interference from CR to primary networks (CR-primary interference) and the interference among spectrum-sharing CR nodes (CR-CR interference). The interference should be well controlled and managed in order not to jeopardise the operation of the primary network and to improve the performance of CR systems. This thesis investigates the interference in CR networks by modelling and mitigating the CR-primary interference and analysing the CR-CR interference channels. Firstly, the CR-primary interference is modelled for multiple CR nodes sharing the spectrum with the primary system. The probability density functions of CR-primary interference are derived for CR networks adopting different interference management schemes. The relationship between CR operating parameters and the resulting CRprimary interference is investigated. It sheds light on the deployment of CR networks to better protect the primary system. Secondly, various interference mitigation techniques that are applicable to CR networks are reviewed. Two novel precoding schemes for CR multiple-input multipleoutput (MIMO) systems are proposed to mitigate the CR-primary interference and maximise the CR throughput. To further reduce the CR-primary interference, we also approach interference mitigation from a cross-layer perspective by jointly considering channel allocation in the media access control layer and precoding in the physical layer of CR MIMO systems. Finally, we analyse the underlying interference channels among spectrum-sharing CR users when they interfere with each other. The Pareto rate region for multi-user MIMO interference systems is characterised. Various rate region convexification schemes are examined to convexify the rate region. Then, game theory is applied to the interference system to coordinate the operation of each CR user. Nash bargaining over MIMO interference systems is characterised as well. The research presented in this thesis reveals the impact of CR operation on the resulting CR-primary network, how to mitigate the CR-primary interference and how to coordinate the spectrum-sharing CR users. It forms the fundamental basis for interference management in CR systems and consequently gives insights into the design and deployment of CR networks