Signal Processing and Communications Group

Macrocells and FemtOcells Systems with Advanced Interference-aware coordination and Cooperation techniques

Acronym:    MOSAIC
Code:    TEC2010-19171
Funder:    Spanish Government
Start date:    2011 January 1st
End date:    2013 December 31st
Keywords:    Interference coordination, femtocells, distributed radio resource management
    
SPCOM Participants:    Adrian Agustin de Dios, Margarita Cabrera Bean, Juan Fernández Rubio, Luis García Ordóñez, Olga Muñoz Medina, Alba Pagès Zamora, Adriano Pastore, Javier Rodríguez Fonollosa, Silvana Silva Pereira and Josep Vidal Manzano
SPCOM Responsible:    Olga Muñoz Medina

Summary

The MOSAIC project aims at providing high system throughput and homogenous high-rate coverage for the next generation OFDMA-based cellular networks (802.16m and LTE-A). These goals are in line with the IMT-Advanced requirements described in [ITU-R M.1645] and match the targets of the IEEE 802.16 Task Group m (TGM) for Advanced Air Interface. To achieve the improved spectrum efficiency which is required to meet these goals, three new key aspects are currently envisioned in LTE-A and 802.16m:

  • The use of distributed MIMO schemes to provide the high link efficiency of conventional MIMO technologies, and also combat shadowing and pathloss, the major causes of coverage outage.
  • The coordination of the sector bandwidth and power allocation to achieve flexible frequency reuse ratios.
  • The use of relays and femtocells (cells served by low range and low cost base stations installed in the households that connect standard mobile devices to a mobile operator’s network through an IP-based backhaul link) to reduce the size of the cells, allowing transmission with smaller powers and consequently a more aggressive spectrum reuse.

The MOSAIC project relies on the latest developments in information and communication theory and on the group’s experience in cooperative transmission to exploit concepts like cooperative multiplexing, distributed multi-base station precoding, distributed synchronization, coordinated interference-aware radio resource management and interference alignment in future systems that, as 802.16m and LTE-A, include cooperation, interference coordination and femtocells as an integral part of the system.

The project will address the study of these systems in the following ways:

  • The design of cooperative schemes when several cells can exchange of information at the data plane, i.e. messages. Different strategies will be considered depending on the link connecting the cells.
  • The design of coordination mechanisms when the cells can exchange information at the control plane (for instance, channel status and level of interference) but not at the data plane.
  • The study of distributed consensus algorithms, useful in problems of synchronization of cooperative base stations.
  • The design of appropriate scheduling techniques in communications architectures with coordination and cooperation.
  • A theoretical study of the fundamental limits associated with wireless communications architectures including the study of the tradeoff between multiplexing gain, the diversity gain and the array gain. This study will allow for comparative study among different topologies and it is a natural continuation of TEC 2006-06481 project Fundamental limits of Network Information Theory developed by the same group.
  • The design of a femtocell based system that includes the coordination and cooperation concepts developed in the project

The techniques developed during the project will be compared in terms of performance, implementation complexity, benefits for the operators (in terms of capacity / cost) and feasibility for communication systems such as WiMAX or LTE-A. The tools developed will likewise compare femtocells based deployments with other deployments based on a more mature technology, such as relaying.

Journal publications

[1] M. Torrellas, A. Agustin de Dios and J. Vidal, "Achievable DoF-delay Trade-offs for the K-user MIMO Interference channel with delayed CSIT", IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, October 2016.

[2] M. Torrellas, A. Agustin de Dios, J. Vidal and O. Muñoz Medina, "The DoF of the 3user MIMO Interference Channel", Transactions on Communications, IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol. 62, No. 11, September 2014, pp. 3842 - 3853.

[3] A. Pastore, T. Koch and J. R. Fonollosa, "A Rate-Splitting Approach to Fading Channels with Imperfect Channel-State Information", IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, Vol. 60, No. 7, July 2014, pp. 4266 - 4285.

[4] Italo Atzeni, L. G. Ordóñez, G. Scutari, D. P. Palomar and J. R. Fonollosa, "Noncooperative Day-Ahead Bidding Strategies for Demand-Side Expected Cost Minimization with Real-Time Adjustments: A GNEP Approach", IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, Vol. 62, No. 9, May 2014, pp. 2397 - 2412.

[5] Italo Atzeni, L. G. Ordóñez, G. Scutari, D. P. Palomar and J. R. Fonollosa, "Demand-Side Management via Distributed Energy Generation and Storage Optimization", IEEE Transaction on Smart Grid, Vol. 4, No. 2, June 2013, pp. 866 - 876.

[6] Italo Atzeni, L. G. Ordóñez, G. Scutari, D. P. Palomar and J. R. Fonollosa, "Noncooperative and Cooperative Optimization of Distributed Energy Generation and Storage in the Demand-side of the Smart Grid", IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, Vol. 61, No. 10, May 2013, pp. 2454 - 2472.

[7] S. Lagén, A. Agustin de Dios and J. Vidal, "Network-MIMO for downlink in-band relay transmissions", EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking, January 2013. | Details

[8] L. G. Ordóñez, D. P. Palomar and J. R. Fonollosa, "Array Gain in the DMT Framework for MIMO Channels", IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, Vol. 58, No. 7, July 2012, pp. 4577 - 4593.

[9] E. Calvo Page, O. Muñoz Medina, J. Vidal and A. Agustin de Dios, "Downlink coordinated radio resource management in cellular networks with partial CSI", IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, Vol. 60, No. 3, March 2012, pp. 1420 - 1431.

[10] J. Vilà-Valls, L. Ros and J.-M. Brossier, "Joint oversampled carrier and time-delay synchronization in digital communications with large excess bandwidth", EURASIP Signal Processing, Elsevier, Vol. 92, No. 1, January 2012, pp. 76 - 88.

[11] E. Calvo Page, D. P. Palomar, J. R. Fonollosa and J. Vidal, "On the Computation of the Capacity Region of the Discrete MAC", IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol. 58, No. 12, December 2010, pp. 3512 - 3525.

Conference publications

[1] M. Torrellas, A. Agustin de Dios and J. Vidal, "Net DoF analysis for the K-user MISO IC with outdated and imperfect channel feedback", European Conference on Networks and Communications, June 2015, pp. 52 - 56.
[2] M. Torrellas, A. Agustin de Dios and J. Vidal, "Retrospective Interference Alignment for the MIMO Interference Broadcast Channel with Delayed CSIT", IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory, June 2015, pp. 1492 - 1496.

[3] A. Agustin de Dios, S. Lagén and J. Vidal, "Channel Training Procedures for MIMO Interfering Point-to-Multipoint Channel", IEEE Global Communications Conference, December 2014.

[4] J. Del Olmo, A. Pascual Iserte, J. Vidal, O. Muñoz Medina and A. Agustin de Dios, "Three-G Access Network Dimensioning in Isolated Rural Areas Based on Femtocells", European Conference on Networks and Communications, June 2014, pp. 1 - 5.

[5] M. Torrellas, A. Agustin de Dios and J. Vidal, "Retrospective Interference Alignment for the 3-user MIMO Interference Channel with delayed CSIT", IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, May 2014.

[6] M. Torrellas, A. Agustin de Dios and J. Vidal, "On the Degrees of freedom of the K-user MISO Interference Channel with imperfect delayed CSIT", IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, May 2014.

[7] S. Lagén, A. Agustin de Dios and J. Vidal, "Decentralized Beamforming with Coordinated Sounding for Inter-Cell Interference Management", European Wireless, May 2014.

[8] S. Lagén, A. Agustin de Dios and J. Vidal, "Improper Gaussian signaling for the Z-Interference Channel", IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, May 2014.

[9] O. Muñoz Medina, A. Pascual Iserte and J. Vidal, "Energy-Latency Trade-off for Multiuser Wireless Computation Offloading", Cloud Technologies and Energy Efficiency in Mobile Communication Networks workshop in IEEE WCNC 2014, April 2014, pp. 29 - 33.

[10] M. Torrellas, A. Agustin de Dios and J. Vidal, "Performance Analysis of Inter-cell Interference Coordination in Small-Cell Networks with long feedback delays", Future Network & Mobile Summit, European Conf. on Networks and Communications, March 2014.

[11] A. Pastore, T. Koch and J. R. Fonollosa, "A Rate-Splitting Approach to Fading Multiple-Access Channels with Imperfect Channel-State Information", IEEE International Zurich Seminar on Broadband Communications, February 2014, pp. 9 - 12.

[12] S. Lagén, A. Agustin de Dios and J. Vidal, "Distributed Inter-Cluster Interference Management for CoMP-based Cellular Networks", IEEE Global Communications Conference, December 2013.

[13] A. Agustin de Dios and J. Vidal, "Degrees of Freedom of the rank-deficient MIMO X channel", IEEE Information Theory Workshop, Information Theory Workshop, Vol. 1, September 2013.

[14] A. Pastore, Jakob Hoydis and J. R. Fonollosa, "Sharpened Capacity Lower Bounds of Fading MIMO Channels with Imperfect CSI", IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory, July 2013, pp. 1 - 5.

[15] M. Torrellas, A. Agustin de Dios and J. Vidal, "Coordinated Beamforming Access for Interfering Half-Duplex Relay Networks", IEEE International Conference on Communications, ICC Workshop: Beyond LTE-A, June 2013.

[16] M. Joham, A. Gründinger, A. Pastore, J. R. Fonollosa and W. Utschick, "Rate Balancing in the Vector BC with Erroneous CSI at the Receivers", Conference on Information Sciences and Systems, March 2013, pp. 1 - 6.

[17] A. Pastore, T. Koch and J. R. Fonollosa, "Improved Capacity Lower Bounds for Fading Channels with Imperfect CSI Using Rate Splitting", IEEE Convention of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in Israel, November 2012, pp. 1 - 5.

[18] O. Muñoz Medina, A. Agustin de Dios and J. Vidal, "MCS and Sub-band Selection for Downlink Interference Coordination in LTE-A Femtocells", IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference Fall, Vehicular Technology Conference, VTC-Fall 2012, September 2012, September 2012.

[19] A. Agustin de Dios, J. Vidal, O. Muñoz Medina and J. R. Fonollosa, "Decentralized Weighted Sum Rate Maximization in MIMO-OFDMA Femtocell Networks", IEEE Global Communications Conference, The Second GlobeCom Workshop on Femtocell Networks, December 2011.

[20] O. Muñoz Medina, J. Vidal, A. Agustin de Dios, A. Pascual Iserte and S. Barbarossa, "Coordinated MIMO Precoding for Power Minimization in Femtocell Systems", IEEE Global Communications Conference, The Second GlobeCom Workshop on Femtocell Networks, December 2011, pp. 191 - 196.

[21] J. Vilà-Valls, C. Fernandez Prades, P. Closas Gómez and J. Fernández Rubio, "Bayesian filtering for nonlinear state-space models in symmetric alpha-stable measurement noise", European Signal Processing Conference, September 2011, pp. 674 - 678.

[22] A. Pastore, M. Joham and J. R. Fonollosa, "Joint pilot and precoder design for optimal throughput", IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory, August 2011.

[23] A. Agustin de Dios and J. Vidal, "Weighted Sum Rate Maximization for the MIMO X Channel through MMSE Precoding", IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory, August 2011, pp. 1 - 5.

[24] A. Agustin de Dios, J. Vidal, S. Lagén and E. Valera, "Network MIMO for Downlink in-band relay transmissions with relaying phases of fixed duration", European Signal Processing Conference, August 2011.

[25] O. Muñoz Medina, A. Pascual Iserte, Pau Baquero and J. Vidal, "Preemption and QoS Management Algorithms for Coordinated and Uncoordinated Base Stations", IEEE International Workshop on Signal Processing Advances for Wireless Communications, June 2011, pp. 486 - 490.

[26] A. Pastore, M. Joham and J. R. Fonollosa, "On a Mutual Information and a Capacity Bound Gap of Pilot-Aided MIMO Channels", IEEE International Conference on Communications, June 2011.

[27] A. Agustin de Dios and J. Vidal, "Improved Interference Alignment Precoding for the MIMO X Channel", IEEE International Conference on Communications, June 2011, pp. 1 - 5.

[28] A. Agustin de Dios, J. Vidal and O. Muñoz Medina, "Interference Pricing for Self-organisation in OFDMA Femtocell Networks", ICT Summit on Mobile and Wireless Communications, Future Network and Mobile Summit 2011 Conference Proceedings, June 2011, pp. 1 - 8.

[29] L. G. Ordóñez, D. P. Palomar and J. R. Fonollosa, "DMA tradeoff for the MIMO static half-duplex relay", IEEE International Workshop on Signal Processing Advances for Wireless Communications, June 2011, pp. 361 - 365.

[30] L. G. Ordóñez, D. P. Palomar and J. R. Fonollosa, "Fundamental Diversity, Multiplexing, and Array Gain Tradeoff under different MIMO Channel Models", IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, May 2011.

[31] A. Pastore, M. Joham and J. R. Fonollosa, "On a Rate Region Approximation of MIMO Channels under Partial CSI", International ITG Workshop on Smart Antennas, February 2011.

[32] A. Pastore, M. Joham and J. R. Fonollosa, "Mutual information bounds for MIMO channels under imperfect receiver CSI", IEEE Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems and Computers, November 2009, pp. 1456 - 1460.

Books

[1] A. Agustin de Dios, O. Muñoz Medina, J. Vidal and Savo Glisic, "Relay-Assisted Wireless Networks", Wiley - IEEE Press, September 2011, pp. 585 - 682. 

Patents

[1] J. R. Fonollosa, A. Agustin de Dios, O. Muñoz Medina and J. Vidal, "Methods and systems for decentralized managing of neighboring femtocells OEPM" December 2014.

[2] J. R. Fonollosa, A. Agustin de Dios, O. Muñoz Medina and J. Vidal, "Methods and systems for decentralized managing of neighboring femtocells USPTO" August 2013.