Italo Atzeni

Fractional pilot reuse in massive MIMO systems

Pilot contamination is known to be one of the main impairments for massive MIMO multi-cell communications. Inspired by the concept of fractional frequency reuse and by recent contributions on pilot reutilization among non-adjacent cells, we propose a new pilot allocation scheme to mitigate this effect. The key idea is to allow users in neighboring cells that are closest to their base stations to reuse the same pilot sequences. Focusing on the uplink, we obtain expressions for the overall spectral efficiency per cell for different linear combining techniques at the base station and use them to obtain both the optimal pilot reuse parameters and the optimal number of scheduled users. Numerical results show a remarkable improvement in terms of spectral efficiency with respect to the existing techniques.

Full-Duplex MIMO Small-Cell Networks: Performance Analysis

Full-duplex small-cell relays with multiple antennas constitute a core element of the envisioned 5G network architecture. In this paper, we use stochastic geometry to analyze the performance of wireless networks with full-duplex multi-antenna small cells, with particular emphasis on the probability of successful transmission. To achieve this goal, we additionally characterize the distribution of the self-interference power of the full-duplex nodes. The proposed framework reveals useful insights on the benefits of full-duplex with respect to half- duplex in terms of network throughput.

Impact of LOS/NLOS propagation and path loss in ultra-dense cellular networks

Most prior work on performance analysis of ultradense cellular networks (UDNs) has considered standard power-law path loss models and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) propagation modeled by Rayleigh fading. The effect of line-of-sight (LOS) on coverage and throughput and its implication on network densification are still not fully understood. In this paper, we investigate the performance of UDNs when the signal propagation includes both LOS and NLOS components. Using a stochastic geometry based cellular network model, we derive expressions for the coverage probability, as well as tight approximations and upper bounds for both closest and strongest base station (BS) association. Our results show that under standard singular path loss model, LOS propagation increases the coverage, especially with nearest BS association. On the contrary, using dual slope path loss, LOS propagation is beneficial with closest BS association and detrimental for strongest BS association.

Full-Duplex MIMO Small-Cell Networks With Interference Cancellation

Full-duplex (FD) technology is envisaged as a key component for future mobile broadband networks due to its ability to boost the spectral efficiency. FD systems can transmit and receive simultaneously on the same frequency at the expense of residual self-interference (SI) and additional interference to the network compared with half-duplex (HD) transmission. This paper analyzes the performance of wireless networks with FD multi-antenna base stations (BSs) and HD user equipments (UEs) using stochastic geometry. Our analytical results quantify the success probability and the achievable spectral efficiency and indicate the amount of SI cancellation needed for beneficial FD operation. The advantages of multi-antenna BSs/UEs are shown and the performance gains achieved by balancing desired signal power increase and interference cancellation are derived. The proposed framework aims at shedding light on the system-level gains of FD mode with respect to HD mode in terms of network throughput, and provides design guidelines for the practical implementation of FD technology in large small-cell networks.

User scheduling and optimal power allocation for full-duplex cellular networks

The problem of user scheduling and power allocation in full-duplex (FD) cellular networks is considered, where a FD base station communicates simultaneously with one half-duplex (HD) user on each downlink and uplink channel. First, we propose low complexity user scheduling algorithms aiming at maximizing the sum rate of the considered FD system. Second, we derive the optimal power allocation for the two communication links, which is then exploited to introduce efficient metrics for FD/HD mode switching in the scheduling procedure, in order to further boost the system rate performance. We analyze the average sum rate of the proposed algorithms over Rayleigh fading and provide closed-form expressions. Our representative performance evaluation results for the algorithms with and without optimal power control offer useful insights on the interplay among rate, transmit powers, self-interference (SI) cancellation capability, and available number of users in the system.

Optimal low-complexity self-interference cancellation for full-duplex MIMO small cells

Self-interference (SI) significantly limits the performance of full-duplex (FD) radio devices if not properly cancelled. State-of-the-art SI cancellation (SIC) techniques at the receive chain implicitly set an upper bound on the transmit power of the device. This paper starts from this observation and proposes a transmit beamforming design for FD multiple-antenna radios that: i) leverages the inherent SIC capabilities at the receiver and the channel state information; and ii) exploits the potential of multiple antennas in terms of spatial SIC. The proposed solution not only maximizes the throughput while complying with the SIC requirements of the FD device, but also enjoys a very low complexity that allows it to outperform state-of-the-art counterparts in terms of processing time and power requirements. Numerical results show that our transmit beamforming design achieves significant gains with respect to applying zero-forcing to the SI channel when the number of transmit antennas is small to moderate, which makes it particularly appealing for FD small-cell base stations.

Performance analysis of ultra-dense networks with elevated base stations

This paper analyzes the downlink performance of ultra-dense networks with elevated base stations (BSs). We consider a general dual-slope pathloss model with distance-dependent probability of line-of-sight (LOS) transmission between BSs and receivers. Specifically, we consider the scenario where each link may be obstructed by randomly placed buildings. Using tools from stochastic geometry, we show that both coverage probability and area spectral efficiency decay to zero as the BS density grows large. Interestingly, we show that the BS height alone has a detrimental effect on the system performance even when the standard single-slope pathloss model is adopted.

Cache-aided full-duplex small cells

Caching popular contents at the edge of the network can positively impact the performance and future sustainability of wireless networks in several ways, e.g., end-to-end access delay reduction and peak rate increase. In this paper, we aim at showing that non-negligible performance enhancements can be observed in terms of network interference footprint as well. To this end, we consider a full-duplex small-cell network consisting of non-cooperative cache-aided base stations, which communicate simultaneously with both downlink users and wireless backhaul nodes. We propose a novel static caching model seeking to mimic a geographical policy based on local files popularity and calculate the corresponding cache hit probability. Subsequently we study the performance of the considered network in terms of throughput gain with respect to its cache-free half-duplex counterpart. Numerical results corroborate our theoretical findings and highlight remarkable performance gains when moving from cache-free to cache-aided full-duplex small-cell networks.

Performance analysis of partial interference cancellation in multi-antenna UDNs

The employment of partial zero-forcing (PZF) receivers at the base stations represents an efficient and low-complexity technique for uplink interference management in cellular networks. In this paper, we focus on the performance analysis of ultra-dense networks (UDNs) in which the multi-antenna receivers adopt PZF. We provide both integral expressions and tight closed-form approximations for the probability of successful transmission, which can be used to accurately evaluate the optimal tradeoff between interference cancellation and array gain. Numerical results show that no more than half of the available degrees of freedom should be used for interference cancellation.

Energy as a Commodity: Enhancing the Sum-Rate of MISO Interference Channels via Energy Cooperation

Cooperation among network devices is envisioned to be a key enabler for the expected performance increase brought by the deployment of future 5G networks. In practice, new interesting opportunities for both smart signal processing and resource allocation in interference channels (ICs) are made possible by means of cooperative strategies. In this work, we propose a novel notion of cooperation for future 5G networks in which not only information but also energy is shared among the devices involved in the communication. In particular, we envision deployment policies for heterogeneous networks where transceivers may not have access to fixed power supplies. As a first study in this direction, we assess the impact of energy sharing paradigms by considering a target system of two multi-antenna transmitters serving their associated receivers by means of beamforming strategies based on a linear combination of maximal ratio transmission and zero forcing. We first characterize the achievable rate region for the resulting two-user multiple-input single-output (MISO) IC. Subsequently, relying on a parametric model of the system, we provide a closed-form expression for the optimal energy cooperation policy that maximizes the sum-rate with a QoS requirement on the transmitter that donates energy. Finally, numerical results show that parameters for which the energy cooperation policy preserves or improves the sum-rate of the two-user MISO IC can always be found.