Interference alignment using reweighted nuclear norm minimization

We show that the maximization of the sum degrees-of-freedom for the static flat-fading multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) interference channel is equivalent to a rank constrained rank minimization problem, when the signal spaces span all available dimensions. The rank minimization corresponds to maximizing interference alignment (IA) such that interference spans the lowest dimensional subspace possible. The rank constraints account for the useful signal spaces spanning all available spatial dimensions. That way, we reformulate all IA requirements to requirements involving ranks. Then, we present a convex relaxation of the RCRM problem inspired by recent results in compressed sensing and low-rank matrix completion theory that rely on approximating rank with the nuclear norm. We show that the convex envelope of the sum of ranks of the interference matrices is the sum of their corresponding nuclear norms and introduce tractable constraints that are asymptotically equivalent to the rank constraints for the initial problem. We also show that our heuristic relaxation can be also tuned to the multi-cell interference channel. Furthermore, we experimentally show that the proposed algorithm outperforms previous approaches for finding precoding and zero-forcing matrices for interference alignment.

Interference alignment (IA) with symbol extensions in the quasi-static flat-fading K-user multipleinput multiple-output (MIMO) interference channel (IC) is considered in this paper. In general, long symbol extensions are required to achieve the optimal fractional degrees of freedom (DOF). However, long symbol extensions over orthogonal dimensions produce structured (diagonal or block diagonal) channel matrices from transmitters to receivers. Most of existing approaches are limited in cases where the channels have some special structures, because they align the interference without preserving the dimensionality of the desired signal explicitly. To overcome this common drawback of most existing IA algorithms, two novel iterative algorithms for IA with symbol extensions are proposed. The first algorithm designs transceivers for IA based on the mean square error (MSE) criterion which minimizes the total MSE of the system while preserving the dimensionality of the desired signal. The novel IA algorithm is a constrained optimization problem which can be solved by Lagrangian method. Its convergence is proven as well. Utilizing the reciprocity of alignment, the second algorithm is proposed based on the maximization of the multidimensional case of the generalized Rayleigh Quotient. It maximizes each receiver’s signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) while preserving the dimensionality of the desired signal. In simulation results, we show the superiority of the proposed algorithms in terms of four aspects, i.e., average sum rate, the fraction of the interfering signal power in the desired signal subspace, bit error rate (BER) and the relative power of the weakest desired data stream.

Interference is a key bottleneck in wireless communication systems. Interference alignment is a management technique that align interference from other transmitters in the least possibly dimension subspace at each receiver and provides the remaining dimensions for free interference signal. An uncoordinated interference is an example of interference which cannot be aligned coordinately with interference from coordinated part; consequently, the performance of interference alignment approaches are degraded. In this paper, we propose a rank minimization method to enhance the performance of interference alignment in the presence of uncoordinated interference sources. Firstly, to obtain higher multiplexing gain, a new rank minimization based optimization problem is proposed; then, a new class of convex relaxation is introduced which can reduce the optimal value of the problem and obtain lower rank solutions by expanding the feasibility set. Simulation results show that our proposed method can obtain considerably higher multiplexing gain and sum rate than other approaches in the interference alignment framework.

In this letter, we consider a new interference alignment (IA) strategy for single-input single-output interference broadcast channels with constant channel coefficients. First, we show that 1.5 degrees of freedom (DOF) is achievable for 3-cell case by utilizing asymmetric complex signaling (AC) and multiuser diversity without symbol extension. It is also investigated that the achievable DOF varies with the user scaling condition and ω(√(SNR)) is required for guaranteeing the DOF of 1.5. To improve the sum-rate performance, user scheduling algorithms combined with the beamforming techniques are suggested which outperform the conventional IA schemes. After introducing an exhaustive scheduling algorithm which shows optimal sum-rate, a simplified scheduling method is also proposed which reduces both scheduling metric computations and the search size.

This paper studies the impact of channel error on the achievable rate of symmetrical K-user multiple-input multiple-output linear interference alignment (IA) networks. The upper and lower bounds of the achievable sum rate are derived analytically with the assumption of orthonormal transmit precoders and receive filters designed from imperfect channel state information (CSI) over both the uncorrelated and correlated channels. For uncorrelated channels, quite tight lower and upper bounds are obtained. The impact of channel error on the degrees of freedom (DoF) and the DoF persistence conditions are also investigated. Results show that the DoF of IA networks persists only if the channel error decreases in an order higher than the signal-to-noise ratio. For correlated channel, the lower and upper bounds for one realization of IA are derived. The derived upper bound can be used to characterize the achievable rate approximately. Simulation results indicate that the achievable rate of IA network is influenced significantly by CSI uncertainty. The obtained analytical bounds provide an intuitive way to show the impact of channel error on the achievable rate and thus can help practical systems deign.

We show that the three-user M <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">T</sub> × M <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">R</sub> Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) interference channel where each transmitter is equipped with M <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">T</sub> antennas and each receiver is equipped with M <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">R</sub> antennas has (M) d(M, N) = <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Δ</sup> min (M/2-1/κ, N/2+1/κ) degrees of freedom (DoF) normalized by time, frequency, and space dimensions, where = <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Δ</sup> min(M <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">T</sub> , M <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">R</sub> ), N = <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Δ</sup> max(M <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">T</sub> , M <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">R</sub> ), κ = <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Δ</sup> ⌈M/N-M⌉. While the DoF outer bound of d(M, N) is established for every M <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">T</sub> , M <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">R</sub> value, the achievability of d(M, N) DoF is established in general subject to a normalization with respect to spatial extensions, i.e., the scaling of the number of antennas at all nodes. In particular, we show that qd(M, N) DoF are achievable for the three-user qMT × qMR MIMO interference channel, for some positive integer q, which may be seen as a spatial extension factor. q is the scaling factor needed to make the value qd(M, N) an integer. Given spatial extensions, the achievability relies only on linear beamforming based interference alignment schemes and requires neither channel extensions nor channel variations in time or frequency. In the absence of spatial extensions, it is shown through examples how essentially the same interference alignment scheme may be applied over time-extensions over either constant or time-varying channels. The central new insight to emerge from this paper is the notion of subspace alignment chains as the DoF bottlenecks. The subspace alignment chains are instrumental both in identifying the extra dimensions to be provided by a genie to a receiver for the DoF outer bound, as well as in the construction of the optimal interference alignment schemes. The DoF value d(M, N) is a piecewise linear function of M, N, with either M or N being the bottleneck within each linear segment, whereas the other value contains some redundancy, i.e., it can be reduced without reducing the DoF. The corner points of these piecewise linear segments correspond to two sets, A={1/2, 2/3, 3/4, ...}and B={1/3, 3/5, 5/7, ...}. The set A contains all those values of M/N and only those values of M/N for which there is redundancy in both M and N, i.e., either can be reduced without reducing the DoF. The set B contains all those values of M/N and only those values of M/N for which there is no redundancy in either M or N, i.e., neither can be reduced without reducing the DoF. Because A and B represent settings with maximum and minimum redundancy, essentially they are the basis for the DoF outer bounds and inner bounds, respectively. Our results settle the question of feasibility of linear interference alignment, introduced previously by Cenk et al., for the three-user M <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">T</sub> × M <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">R</sub> MIMO interference channel, completely for all values of M <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">T</sub> , M <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">R</sub> . In particular, we show that the linear interference alignment problem (M <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">T</sub> × M <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">R</sub> , d) <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup> (as defined in previous paper by Cenk et al.) is feasible if and only if d ≤ d(M, N). With the exception of the values M/N ∈ B, and only with that exception, we show that for every M/N value there are proper systems (as defined by Cenk et al.) that are not feasible. Evidently the redundancy contained in all other values of M/N manifests itself as superfluous variables that are not discounted in the definition of proper systems, thus creating a discrepancy between proper and feasible systems. Our results show that M/N ∈ A are the only values for which there is no DoF benefit of joint processing among co-located antennas at the transmitters or receivers. This may also be seen as a consequence of the maximum redundancy in the M/N ∈ A settings.

When Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) radar and communication transceivers are co-existing and operating simultaneously in the same frequency band, interference can be managed by designing signal spaces that facilitate spectrum sharing. In this paper, a spatial precoder-decoder design based on Interference Alignment (IA) is proposed assuming that an interference channel is shared by K c communication users and K r radar users. In order to find an IA based precoder-decoder solution guaranteeing desired multiplexing gain or diversity order, the design problem is formulated using a rank minimization criterion with rank constraint for the communication subsystem and rank minimization criterion with l 0 norm constraint for the radar, respectively. To deal with the non-convex nature of the optimization problem, we relax the problem by using nuclear norm. A generalized likelihood ratio test for target detection and a maximum likelihood estimator for target direction parameter are derived. The performance of the proposed IA based precoder-decoder design is analyzed using the GLRT detector and the ML estimator for MIMO radar. Analytical and simulation results show that radar detection performance is similar to the interference-free case with desired diversity order if the decoder matrix is semi-unitary and IA is perfect.

Interference alignment(IA) with symbol extensions in the K-user multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) interference channel(IC) is considered in this paper. Symbol extensions produce the channels of special structure. Most of existing approaches are limited in cases where the channels have some special structure, because they align the interference without preserving the dimensionality of the desired signal. For that reason, two novel iterative algorithms for IA with symbol extensions are proposed. The first algorithm designs transceivers for IA based on minimizing the maximum per-user mean square error(MSE) while preserving the dimensionality of the desired signal. Utilizing channel reciprocity, the second algorithm is proposed which is the constrained optimization problem. It maximizes each receiver's SINR while preserving the dimensionality of the desired signal. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithms not only achieve good performance in terms of BER performance but also achieve good performance on maximizing sum rate of the system.

Consider a MIMO interference channel whereby each transmitter and receiver are equipped with multiple antennas. The basic problem is to design optimal linear transceivers (or beamformers) that can maximize system throughput. The recent work [1] suggests that optimal beamformers should maximize the total degrees of freedom and achieve interference alignment in high SNR. In this paper we first consider the interference alignment problem in spatial domain and prove that the problem of maximizing the total degrees of freedom for a given MIMO interference channel is NP-hard. Furthermore, we show that even checking the achievability of a given tuple of degrees of freedom for all receivers is NP-hard when each receiver is equipped with at least three antennas. Interestingly, the same problem becomes polynomial time solvable when each transmit/receive node is equipped with no more than two antennas. Finally, we propose a distributed algorithm for transmit covariance matrix design, while assuming each receiver uses a linear MMSE beamformer. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the existing interference alignment algorithms in terms of system throughput.

Interference alignment (IA) is a transmission strategy that attempts to exploit all degrees of freedom available at the transmitter or at the receiver in a multiuser channel. This paper proposes a new scheme named channel aided interference alignment. It makes use of the channel structure beside the linear interference alignment schemes to achieve the optimum degrees of freedom in a K user interference channel. In case the channel matrix does meet the specified structure, the proposed scheme achieves the optimum degrees of freedom at a finite signal to noise ratio and by using limited number of channel realizations; it turns to the usual linear vector interference alignment schemes otherwise. For the case of 3 user interference channel, it would be shown that if only one of interfering channel coeficients can be designed to a specific value, interferenfce would be aligned perfectly at all the receivers.

Gomadam recently proposed two distributed interference alignment algorithms, namely the zero-forcing and the maximal signal to interference plus noise ratio (max-SINR) algorithms. Both of them only require local channel state information and no symbol extension is needed. Then, Ning showed that when only one stream of information symbols is sent by each user, interference alignment may achieve receive diversity using the max-SINR algorithm. This result was, however, derived only based on an assumption. In this paper, using a different approach, we prove that interference alignment using the max-SINR algorithm indeed achieves receive diversity without the assumption used by Ning The result in this paper not only completes the proof of the result by Ning , but also generalizes it by allowing more than one stream of information symbols to be sent by each user.

The achievable degrees of freedom (DOF) in an interference relay channel are examined. We highlight some differences between two relaying strategies in two different setups. Namely, we study the DOF achieved using interference alignment and interference cancellation in a cognitive relay setup and in a half-duplex relay setup. The difference between the two setups is causality, which leads to a difference in the achievable DOF. We show that 3/2 DOF are achievable almost surely in a 3-user complex Gaussian interference relay channel with quasistatic channel coefficients and with one antenna at each node. This result holds for both the cognitive as well as for the more practical half-duplex non-cognitive relay. However, while this is achieved in the cognitive relay setup using one symbol duration, it needs two symbol extensions in the half-duplex case. On the other hand, we show that in the cognitive case, interference cancellation performs better than interference alignment, since it achieves 2 DOF almost surely. Moreover, interference cancellation achieves full, i.e. K DOF for a family of K-user interference channels with a cognitive relay. Interestingly, for the half-duplex setup the outcome is swapped. Here, interference alignment outperforms interference cancellation, since the latter achieves less than 3/2 DOF almost surely in the 3 user case.

An approximation theory of matrix rank minimization and its application to quadratic equations

A novel interference alignment (IA) scheme based on the errors-in-variables (EIV) mathematic model has been proposed to overcome the channel state information (CSI) estimation error for the MIMO interference channels. By solving an equivalently unconstrained optimization problem, the proposed IA scheme employing a weighted total least squares (WTLS) algorithm can obtain the solution to a constrained optimization problem for transmit precoding (TPC) matrices and minimizes the distortion caused by imperfect CSI according to the EIV model. It is shown that the design of TPC matrices can be realized through an efficient iterative algorithm. The convergence of the proposed scheme is presented as well. Simulation results show that the proposed IA scheme is robust over MIMO interference channels with imperfect CSI, which yields significantly better sum rate performance than the existing IA schemes such as distributed iterative IA, maximum signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (Max SINR), and minimum mean square error (MMSE) schemes.

This paper investigates an iterative approach to solve the Rank Minimization Problems (RMPs) constrained in a convex set. The matrix rank function is discontinuous and nonconvex and the general RMP is classified as NP-hard. A continuous function is firstly introduced to approximately represent the matrix rank function with prescribed accuracy by selecting appropriate parameters. The RMPs are then converted to rank constrained optimization problems. An Iterative Rank Minimization (IRM) method is proposed to gradually approach the constrained rank. Convergence proof of the IRM method using the duality theory and Karush-Kuhn-Tucker conditions is provided. Two representative applications of RMP, matrix completion and output feedback stabilization problems, are presented to verify the feasibility and improved performance of the proposed IRM method.