A Light Signalling Approach to Node Grouping for Massive MIMO IoT Networks

Massive MIMO is a promising technology to connect very large numbers of energy constrained nodes, as it offers both extensive spatial multiplexing and large array gain. A challenge resides in partitioning the many nodes in groups that can communicate simultaneously such that the mutual interference is minimized. We here propose node partitioning strategies that do not require full channel state information, but rather are based on nodes' respective directional channel properties. In our considered scenarios, these typically have a time constant that is far larger than the coherence time of the channel. We developed both an optimal and an approximation algorithm to partition users based on directional channel properties, and evaluated them numerically. Our results show that both algorithms, despite using only these directional channel properties, achieve similar performance in terms of the minimum signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio for any user, compared with a reference method using full channel knowledge. In particular, we demonstrate that grouping nodes with related directional properties is to be avoided. We hence realise a simple partitioning method requiring minimal information to be collected from the nodes, and where this information typically remains stable over a long term, thus promoting their autonomy and energy efficiency

Multiple Access in Aerial Networks: From Orthogonal and Non-Orthogonal to Rate-Splitting

Recently, interest on the utilization of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has aroused. Specifically, UAVs can be used in cellular networks as aerial users for delivery, surveillance, rescue search, or as an aerial base station (aBS) for communication with ground users in remote uncovered areas or in dense environments requiring prompt high capacity. Aiming to satisfy the high requirements of wireless aerial networks, several multiple access techniques have been investigated. In particular, space-division multiple access(SDMA) and power-domain non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) present promising multiplexing gains for aerial downlink and uplink. Nevertheless, these gains are limited as they depend on the conditions of the environment. Hence, a generalized scheme has been recently proposed, called rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA), which is capable of achieving better spectral efficiency gains compared to SDMA and NOMA. In this paper, we present a comprehensive survey of key multiple access technologies adopted for aerial networks, where aBSs are deployed to serve ground users. Since there have been only sporadic results reported on the use of RSMA in aerial systems, we aim to extend the discussion on this topic by modelling and analyzing the weighted sum-rate performance of a two-user downlink network served by an RSMA-based aBS. Finally, related open issues and future research directions are exposed.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, submitted to IEEE Journa

대규모 다중 안테나 환경에서 낮은 복잡도의 다중 사용자 신호전송에 관한 연구

학위논문 (박사) -- 서울대학교 대학원 : 공과대학 전기·컴퓨터공학부, 2020. 8. 이용환.Advanced wireless communication systems may employ massive multi-input multi-output (m-MIMO) techniques for performance improvement. A base station equipped with an m-MIMO configuration can serve a large number of users by means of beamforming. The m-MIMO channel becomes asymptotically orthogonal to each other as the number of antennas increases to infinity. In this case, we may optimally transmit signal by means of maximum ratio transmission (MRT) with affordable implementation complexity. However, the MRT may suffer from inter-user interference in practical m-MIMO environments mainly due to the presence of insufficient channel orthogonality. The use of zero-forcing beamforming can be a practical choice in m-MIMO environments since it can easily null out inter-user interference. However, it may require huge computational complexity for the generation of beam weight. Moreover, it may suffer from performance loss associated with the interference nulling, referred to transmission performance loss (TPL). The TPL may become serious when the number of users increases or the channel correlation increases in spatial domain. In this dissertation, we consider complexity-reduced multi-user signal transmission in m-MIMO environments. We determine the beam weight to maximize the signal-to-leakage plus noise ratio (SLNR) instead of signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR). We determine the beam direction assuming combined use of MRT and partial ZF that partially nulls out interference. For further reduction of computational complexity, we determine the beam weight based on the approximated SLNR. We consider complexity-reduced ZF beamforming that generates the beam weight in a group-wise manner. We partition users into a number of groups so that users in each group experience low TPL. We approximately estimate the TPL for further reduction of computational complexity. Finally, we determine the beam weight for each user group based on the approximated TPL.차세대 무선 통신 시스템에서 성능 향상을 위해 대규모 다중 안테나 (massive MIMO) 기술들을 사용할 수 있다. 대규모 안테나를 가진 기지국은 많은 수의 사용자들을 빔포밍 (beamforming)으로 서비스해줄 수 있다. 안테나 수가 무한히 증가함에 따라서 채널은 점근적으로 서로 직교 (orthogonal)하게 된다. 이러한 경우, 낮은 실장 복잡도를 가지는 최대 비 전송 (maximum ratio transmission)을 사용함으로써 신호전송을 최적화할 수 있다. 하지만, 현실적인 대규모 다중 안테나 환경에서는 채널 직교성이 충분하지 못하기 때문에 최대 비 전송은 간섭에 의한 성능 저하를 겪을 수 있다. 제로-포싱 (zero-forcing) 빔포밍은 간섭을 쉽게 제거할 수 있기 때문에 대규모 다중 안테나 환경에서 현실적인 선택이 될 수 있다. 하지만, 제로-포싱은 빔 가중치 (beam weight) 생성으로 인해 높은 계산 복잡도를 요구할 수 있다. 뿐만 아니라, 제로-포싱은 간섭 제거에 대한 대가로 심각한 성능 저하 (즉, transmission performance loss; TPL)를 겪을 수 있다. TPL은 사용자 수가 많거나 채널의 공간 상관도가 클 때 더 심각해질 수 있다. 본 논문에서 대규모 다중 안테나 환경에서 낮은 복잡도의 다중 사용자 신호전송을 고려한다. 제안 기법은 신호-대-간섭 및 잡음 비 (signal-to-interference plus noise ratio) 대신 신호-대-유출 및 잡음 비 (signal-to-leakage plus noise ratio)를 최대화하는 빔 가중치를 결정한다. 제안 기법은 최대 비 전송과 간섭을 선택적으로 제거하는 부분 제로-포싱 (partial zero-forcing)의 사용을 기반으로 빔 방향을 결정한다. 계산 복잡도를 더 감소시키기 위해서, 제안 기법은 근사화된 신호-대-유출 및 잡음비를 사용하여 빔 가중치를 결정한다. 본 논문에서 그룹 기반으로 빔 가중치를 생성하는 낮은 복잡도의 제로-포싱 빔포밍 전송을 고려한다. 제안 기법은 사용자들이 낮은 TPL을 갖도록 사용자들을 다수의 그룹으로 분리시킨다. 계산 복잡도를 더 감소시키기 위해서, 제안 기법은 TPL을 근사적으로 추정한다. 마지막으로, 제안 기법은 근사화된 TPL을 기반으로 형성된 각 사용자 그룹에 대하여 빔 가중치를 결정한다.Chapter 1. Introduction 1 Chapter 2. System model 10 Chapter 3. Complexity-reduced multi-user signal transmission 15 3.1. Previous works 15 3.2. Proposed scheme 24 3.3. Performance evaluation 47 Chapter 4. User grouping-based ZF transmission 57 4.1. Spatially correlated channel 57 4.2. Previous works 59 4.3. Proposed scheme 66 4.4. Performance evaluation 87 Chapter 5. Conclusions and further research issues 94 Appendix 97 A. Proof of Lemma 3-4 97 B. Proof of Lemma 3-5 100 C. Proof of strict quasi-concavity of SLNR_(k) 101 References 103 Korean Abstract 115Docto