1,085 research outputs found
AirSync: Enabling Distributed Multiuser MIMO with Full Spatial Multiplexing
The enormous success of advanced wireless devices is pushing the demand for
higher wireless data rates. Denser spectrum reuse through the deployment of
more access points per square mile has the potential to successfully meet the
increasing demand for more bandwidth. In theory, the best approach to density
increase is via distributed multiuser MIMO, where several access points are
connected to a central server and operate as a large distributed multi-antenna
access point, ensuring that all transmitted signal power serves the purpose of
data transmission, rather than creating "interference." In practice, while
enterprise networks offer a natural setup in which distributed MIMO might be
possible, there are serious implementation difficulties, the primary one being
the need to eliminate phase and timing offsets between the jointly coordinated
access points.
In this paper we propose AirSync, a novel scheme which provides not only time
but also phase synchronization, thus enabling distributed MIMO with full
spatial multiplexing gains. AirSync locks the phase of all access points using
a common reference broadcasted over the air in conjunction with a Kalman filter
which closely tracks the phase drift. We have implemented AirSync as a digital
circuit in the FPGA of the WARP radio platform. Our experimental testbed,
comprised of two access points and two clients, shows that AirSync is able to
achieve phase synchronization within a few degrees, and allows the system to
nearly achieve the theoretical optimal multiplexing gain. We also discuss MAC
and higher layer aspects of a practical deployment. To the best of our
knowledge, AirSync offers the first ever realization of the full multiuser MIMO
gain, namely the ability to increase the number of wireless clients linearly
with the number of jointly coordinated access points, without reducing the per
client rate.Comment: Submitted to Transactions on Networkin
Linear Precoding in Cooperative MIMO Cellular Networks with Limited Coordination Clusters
In a cooperative multiple-antenna downlink cellular network, maximization of
a concave function of user rates is considered. A new linear precoding
technique called soft interference nulling (SIN) is proposed, which performs at
least as well as zero-forcing (ZF) beamforming. All base stations share channel
state information, but each user's message is only routed to those that
participate in the user's coordination cluster. SIN precoding is particularly
useful when clusters of limited sizes overlap in the network, in which case
traditional techniques such as dirty paper coding or ZF do not directly apply.
The SIN precoder is computed by solving a sequence of convex optimization
problems. SIN under partial network coordination can outperform ZF under full
network coordination at moderate SNRs. Under overlapping coordination clusters,
SIN precoding achieves considerably higher throughput compared to myopic ZF,
especially when the clusters are large.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure
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