Jubin Jose

Pilot Contamination and Precoding in Multi-Cell TDD Systems

This paper considers a multi-cell multiple antenna system with precoding used at the base stations for downlink transmission. Channel state information (CSI) is essential for precoding at the base stations. An effective technique for obtaining this CSI is time-division duplex (TDD) operation where uplink training in conjunction with reciprocity simultaneously provides the base stations with downlink as well as uplink channel estimates. This paper mathematically characterizes the impact that uplink training has on the performance of such multi-cell multiple antenna systems. When non-orthogonal training sequences are used for uplink training, the paper shows that the precoding matrix used by the base station in one cell becomes corrupted by the channel between that base station and the users in other cells in an undesirable manner. This paper analyzes this fundamental problem of pilot contamination in multi-cell systems. Furthermore, it develops a new multi-cell MMSE-based precoding method that mitigates this problem. In addition to being linear, this precoding method has a simple closed-form expression that results from an intuitive optimization. Numerical results show significant performance gains compared to certain popular single-cell precoding methods.

Pilot contamination problem in multi-cell TDD systems

This paper considers a multi-cell multiple antenna system with precoding at the base stations for downlink transmission. To enable precoding, channel state information (CSI) is obtained via uplink training. This paper mathematically characterizes the impact that uplink training has on the performance of multi-cell multiple antenna systems. When non-orthogonal training sequences are used for uplink training, it is shown that the precoding matrix used by the base station in one cell becomes corrupted by the channel between that base station and the users in other cells. This problem of pilot contamination is analyzed in this paper. A multi-cell MMSE-based precoding is proposed that, when combined with frequency/time/pilot reuse techniques, mitigate this problem.

Congestion control for vehicular safety: synchronous and asynchronous MAC algorithms

The IEEE 802.11p standard specifies the PHY and MAC layer operations for transmitting and receiving periodic broadcast messages for vehicular safety. Many studies have identified issues with the CSMA based IEEE 802.11p MAC at high densities of devices, mainly reflected by low packet reception rate. In this paper, we make an interesting observation that with increasing density, the IEEE 802.11p MAC tends towards an ALOHA-type behavior where concurrent transmissions by close-by devices are not prevented. This behavior can lead to poor packet reception rate even for vehicles in close neighborhood. Many efforts have been made to address the IEEE 802.11p MAC issues to provide better performance for DSRC safety applications, including the introduction of Decentralized Congestion Control (DCC) algorithm to ETSI standards in Europe. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of the proposed DCC algorithm and observe that the nominal parameters in DCC are unsuitable in many scenarios. Using transmit power control as an example, we develop a simple rule within the DCC framework that can significantly improve the safety packet reception performance with increasing densities. The DCC algorithms are fully compatible with the IEEE 802.11p standards and asynchronous in nature. A parallel approach to handle high device densities is a slotted synchronous MAC, where time is slotted based on GPS synchronization and each transmitter contends for a set of recurring time slots (or channels) with periodicity matching the required safety message periodicity. As compared to the per-packet based contention scheme as in CSMA defined in IEEE 802.11, such a scheme is much better suited for periodic safety broadcast. In this paper, we design a standard compliant TDM overlay on top of the MAC layer that can significantly improve the packet reception performance. Combined with a distributed resource selection protocol, the synchronous MAC can discover even more neighboring devices than the improved asynchronous approach, making DSRC safety applications more reliable.

Channel Estimation and Linear Precoding in Multiuser Multiple-Antenna TDD Systems

Traditional approaches in the analysis of downlink systems decouple the precoding and the channel estimation problems. However, in cellular systems with mobile users, these two problems are, in fact, tightly coupled. In this paper, this coupling is explicitly studied by accounting for the channel training overhead and estimation error while determining the overall system throughput. This paper studies the problem of utilizing imperfect channel estimates for efficient linear precoding and user selection. It presents precoding methods that take into account the degree of channel estimation error. Information-theoretic lower and upper bounds are derived to evaluate the performance of these precoding methods. In typical scenarios, these bounds are close.

On Robust Weighted-Sum Rate Maximization in MIMO Interference Networks

This paper studies the \emph{robust weighted-sum rate} optimization problem in the presence of channel uncertainty over a

Scheduling and Pre-Conditioning in Multi-User MIMO TDD Systems

K

On the Impact of Mobility on Multicast Capacity of Wireless Networks

-user Gaussian Interference Channel (GIFC), where multiple antennas are present at all transmitters and receivers. Motivated by recent results on \emph{interference alignment} that show the optimality of linear precoders and simple receivers in achieving the maximum degrees-of-freedom available in the GIFC, we consider linear transmit precoding and two simple decoding schemes: single-stream decoding and single-user decoding. The resulting precoder design problems are then posed as specific optimization problems. Unfortunately, due to the hardness of these problems, optimal solutions cannot be efficiently obtained. Instead of resorting to ad-hoc algorithms, we show that it is possible to design algorithms using a systematic approach. Towards this end, this paper develops new provably convergent iterative algorithms for precoder design through ingenious sub-problem formulations such that each of these sub-problems can be solved optimally. The sub-problems are solved in closed-form for certain cases and formulated as standard convex problems for the rest. To complement these contributions on achievable schemes, we generalize the genie-MAC outer bounding technique to incorporate channel uncertainty using notions of compound-MAC capacity and then obtain computable outer bounds using an alternating optimization approach. Thus, we introduce one of the first approaches to obtain tighter outer bounds on the capacity region of the GIFC in the presence of channel uncertainty.

Distributed Rate Allocation for Wireless Networks

The downlink transmission in multi-user multiple- input multiple-output (MIMO) systems has been extensively studied from both communication-theoretic and information-theoretic perspectives. Most of these papers assume perfect/imperfect channel knowledge. In general, the problem of channel estimation is studied separately. However, in interference-limited communication systems with high mobility, the problem of channel estimation is tightly coupled with the problem of maximizing throughput of the system. In this paper, scheduling and preconditioning in the presence of reciprocal time-division duplex (TDD) training are considered. In the case of homogeneous users, a scheduling scheme is proposed and an improved lower bound on the sum capacity is derived. The problem of choosing training sequence length to maximize net throughput of the system is also studied. In the case of heterogeneous users, a modified pre-conditioning method is proposed and an optimized pre-conditioning matrix is derived. This method is combined with a scheduling scheme to further improve achievable weighted-sum rate.

Opportunistic interference alignment in cellular downlink

Analogous to the beneficial impact that mobility has on the throughput of unicast networks, this paper establishes that mobility can provide a similar gain in the order-wise growth-rate of the throughput for multicast networks. This paper considers an all-mobile multicast network, and characterizes its multicast capacity scaling. The scaling result shows that the growth-rate of the throughput in the all-mobile multicast network is order-wise higher compared to the all-static multicast network. Further, the paper considers a static-mobile hybrid multicast network, and establishes that, if there are sufficient number of mobile nodes (that is order-wise smaller than the total number of nodes) in the network, then mobile nodes can enhance the order behavior of the multicast throughput.

Sum capacity of K user Gaussian degraded interference channels

This paper develops a distributed algorithm for rate allocation in wireless networks that achieves the same throughput region as optimal centralized algorithms. This cross-layer algorithm jointly performs medium access control and physical-layer rate adaptation. The paper establishes that this algorithm is throughput-optimal for general rate regions. In contrast to on-off scheduling, rate allocation enables optimal utilization of physical-layer schemes by scheduling multiple rate levels. The algorithm is based on local queue-length information, and thus the algorithm is of significant practical value. An important application of this algorithm is in multiple-band multiple-radio throughput-optimal distributed scheduling for white-space networks. The algorithm requires that each link can determine the global feasibility of increasing its current data-rate. In many classes of networks, any one links data-rate primarily impacts its neighbors and this impact decays with distance. Hence, local exchanges can provide the information needed to determine feasibility. Along these lines, the paper discusses the potential use of existing physical-layer control messages to determine feasibility. This can be considered as a technique analogous to carrier sensing in carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) networks.