Two-Phase Scheduling and Leakage-Based Precoding in Wireless Cellular Networks

• Published in: IEEE transactions on wireless communications Vol. 12; no. 7; pp. 3148 - 3157
• Main Authors: Bendlin, R., Brunner, H. H., Ivrlac, M. T., Nossek, J. A., Huang, Y.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01-07-2013; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Algorithms; Antennas; Applied sciences; Array signal processing; base station cooperation; Base stations; Cellular; Cellular communication; Cellular networks; Channels; Coding, codes; coordinated multi-point (CoMP) transmission; Equipments and installations; Exact sciences and technology; Information, signal and communications theory; intercell interference coordination (ICIC); Interference; interference channel (IFC); Mobile radiocommunication systems; non-stationary interference; OFDM; Radiocommunications; Scheduling; Signal and communications theory; Stations; Systems, networks and services of telecommunications; Telecommunications; Telecommunications and information theory; Transmission and modulation (techniques and equipments); Transmitters; Vectors; Wireless communication; Wireless communications; Wireless networks; Performance evaluation; Parameter estimation; Base station; Wireless telecommunication; Downlink; Processing time; Cell network; coordinated multi-point (CoMP) transmission; Frequency band; Coding; Channel estimation; Pretreatment; Intercell interference; Antenna array; Mobile radiocommunication; Multiple access; non-stationary interference; Coding circuit; Scheduling; Algorithm; interference channel (IFC); Cellular networks; base station cooperation; Backhaul network; Telecommunication network; Signal processing; Wireless network; intercell interference coordination (ICIC)
• ISSN: 1536-1276; 1558-2248
• DOI: 10.1109/TWC.2013.061413.120320

We consider the downlink of a wireless cellular network where the base stations are equipped with multiple antennas and operate in the same frequency band. Since scheduling changes the spatial transmit signal processing with each time slot, information from neighboring base stations is required for data encoding. This can, in theory, be accomplished by a high-capacity backhaul network through which the base stations exchange channel state information (CSI) and other control signals. In reality, however, the temporal granularity of the scheduler does not allow for timely distribution of CSI among base stations. We propose a two-phase scheduler which optimizes the precoding in the first phase and allows the users to feed back their instantaneous interference power in the second phase. For the single-user case, we present a practical scheme that combines two-phase scheduling with precoders that maximize the signal-to-leakage-plus-noise ratio. If the users feed back the interference power together with a supported rate, communication between base stations can be limited to integers. By comparing the performance to multi-user two-phase scheduling with dirty paper coding and to algorithms that share CSI among base stations we show that two-phase scheduling is a technically and practically feasible solution to deal with non-stationary intercell interference.