WIRELESS NETWORK AND METHOD FOR ADAPTIVE OPPORTUNISTIC CLUSTERING FOR INTERFERENCE ALIGNMENT IN WIRELESS NETWORKS

• US 20100265813A1
• Filed: 04/20/2009
• Published: 10/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Xue, Feng, Pereira, Stephanie F.
• Granted Patent: US 8,036,098 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/201
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/20 using signal quality detector
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/03343 Arrangements at the transmitter end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/03891 Spatial equalizers MIMO diversity systems H04B7/0413
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0231 based on communication conditions dynamic wireless traffic scheduling definition based on channel quality criteria H04W72/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/121 for groups of terminals or users
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/54 based on quality criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 using the level of interference

Abstract

Embodiments of a central scheduler and method for adaptive clustering are generally described herein. In some embodiments, a cluster of transmitter-receiver pairs is selected based on minimum singular values calculated from direct channel information and the selected pairs are instructed to perform an interference alignment technique.

Claims

1. A base station comprising a central scheduler to schedule communications for a plurality of transmitter-receiver pairs, wherein the central scheduler is configured to:

select a cluster of the transmitter-receiver pairs based on a minimum singular value of direct channel information for each of the pairs; and

instruct the pairs of the selected cluster to perform an interference alignment technique, the interference alignment technique using channel state information.

2. The base station of claim 1 wherein in response to being instructed by the central scheduler, a transmitter of each transmitter-receiver pair of the selected cluster is configured to precode baseband signals in accordance with the interference alignment technique for transmission to an associated receiver of each transmitter-receiver pair using the channel state information.

3. The base station of claim 2 wherein the channel state information comprises both a direct-channel gain estimate and a cross-channel gain estimate,

wherein the direct channel information comprises the direct-channel gain estimate,

wherein the interference alignment technique comprises limiting interfering signals to a smaller signal space for improved decoding of desired signals, and

wherein each transmitter-receiver pair is assigned a non-orthogonal channel resource for concurrent communication.

4. The base station of claim 2 wherein the central scheduler is configured to select transmitter-receiver pairs of the plurality for clustering having greatest minimum singular values above a threshold.

5. The base station of claim 4 wherein prior to instructing the pairs of the selected cluster to perform the interference alignment technique, the central scheduler is configured to:

calculate a sum rate for the transmitter-receiver pairs of the selected cluster; and

instruct the pairs of the selected cluster to perform the interference alignment technique when the sum rate meets or exceeds a target throughput rate, and

wherein the sum rate is calculated by summing a throughput of each of the transmitter-receiver pairs of the selected cluster if the pairs were to perform the interference alignment technique.

6. The base station of claim 5 wherein the interference alignment technique comprises either an interference-centric interference alignment technique or a maximum signal-to-interference and noise ratio interference alignment technique.

7. The base station of claim 5 wherein when the sum rate does not meet or exceed the target throughput rate, the central scheduler is further configured to:

randomly select a set of transmitter-receiver pairs from the plurality;

compute an achievable sum rate for each possible cluster of pairs within the selected set;

select the cluster with the highest achievable sum rate; and

instruct the pairs of the selected cluster to perform the interference alignment technique,

wherein the randomly selected set of comprises a predetermined number of transmitter-receiver pairs, and

wherein each cluster comprises a subset having less transmitter-receiver pairs than the randomly selected set.

8. The base station of claim 7 wherein after randomly selecting the set of transmitter-receiver pairs from the plurality, the central scheduler is configured to request full-channel information for each transmitter-receiver pair of the selected set,

wherein to compute the achievable sum rate, the central scheduler uses full-channel information comprising both the direct channel information and cross channel information, and

wherein the achievable sum rate is calculated by summing the throughput of each of the transmitter-receiver pairs of the selected cluster if the pairs were to perform the interference alignment technique.

9. The base station of claim 3 wherein the transmitters of each of the transmitter-receiver pairs comprise a precoder to precode signals in accordance with the interference alignment technique for transmission to the associated receiver of each transmitter-receiver pair, the precoder to precode the signals based on the channel state information of a channel therebetween, and

wherein each associated receiver comprises a decoder configured to decode the precoded signals received from the transmitter of the pair, the precoding being configured to allow the decoder to remove interference associated with transmissions of other transmitters of the cluster.

10. The base station of claim 1 wherein the base station is part of a distributed network, wherein the transmitter-receiver pairs are configured to directly communicate.

11. The base station of claim 1 wherein the base station is part of a centralized network, and

wherein the transmitter-receiver pairs comprise base stations and mobile stations.

12. A method for adaptive clustering of transmitter-receiver pairs, the method comprising:

selecting a cluster of transmitter-receiver pairs based on a minimum singular value of direct channel information; and

instructing the pairs of the selected cluster to perform an interference alignment technique when a target throughput rate can be achieved,

wherein performing the interference alignment technique provides an increase an overall achievable throughput for the pairs of the selected cluster.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein selecting further comprises selecting transmitter-receiver pairs of the plurality having greatest minimum singular values above a threshold, and

wherein, in response to the instructing, a transmitter of each transmitter-receiver pair of the selected cluster is configured to precode baseband signals in accordance with the interference alignment technique for transmission to an associated receiver of each transmitter-receiver pair using channel state information.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the channel state information comprises both a direct-channel gain estimate and a cross-channel gain estimate,

wherein the direct channel information comprises the direct-channel gain estimate,

wherein the interference alignment technique comprises limiting interfering signals to a smaller signal space for improved decoding of desired signals, and

wherein each transmitter-receiver pair is assigned a non-orthogonal channel resource for concurrent communication.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein prior to instructing, the method includes:

calculating a sum rate for the transmitter-receiver pairs of the selected cluster; and

instructing the pairs of the selected cluster to perform the interference alignment technique when the sum rate meets or exceed a target throughput rate,

wherein the sum rate is calculated by summing a throughput of each of the transmitter-receiver pairs of the selected cluster if the pairs were to perform the interference alignment technique.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein when the sum rate does not meet or exceed the target throughput rate, the method further comprises:

randomly selecting a set of transmitter-receiver pairs from the plurality;

computing an achievable sum rate for each possible cluster of pairs within the selected set;

selecting the cluster with the highest achievable sum rate; and

instructing the pairs of the selected cluster to perform the interference alignment technique,

wherein the randomly selected set of comprises a predetermined number of transmitter-receiver pairs,

wherein each cluster comprises a subset having less transmitter-receiver pairs than the randomly selected set.

17. A central scheduler for a wireless network comprising:

circuitry to calculate a minimum singular value from direct channel information of each of a plurality of transmitter-receiver pairs;

circuitry to select a cluster of the transmitter-receiver pairs based on the minimum singular values calculated for each of the pairs; and

circuitry to instruct the pairs of the selected cluster to perform an interference alignment technique when a target throughput rate can be achieved.

18. The central scheduler of claim 17 further comprising circuitry to calculate a sum rate for the transmitter-receiver pairs of the selected cluster,

wherein the circuitry to instruct is configured to instruct the pairs of the selected cluster to perform the interference alignment technique when the sum rate meets or exceeds the target throughput rate, and

wherein the sum rate is calculated by summing a throughput of each of the transmitter-receiver pairs of the selected cluster if the pairs were to perform the interference alignment technique.

19. The central scheduler of claim 18 wherein the circuitry to select a cluster is configured to select transmitter-receiver pairs having greatest minimum singular values above a threshold for the cluster,

wherein when the sum rate does not meet or exceed the target throughput rate, the circuitry to select a cluster is further configured to:

randomly select a set of transmitter-receiver pairs from the plurality;

compute an achievable sum rate for each possible cluster of pairs within the selected set;

select the cluster with the highest achievable sum rate from the possible clusters; and

instruct the pairs of the selected cluster to perform the interference alignment technique.

20. The central scheduler of claim 19 wherein the randomly selected set comprises a predetermined number of transmitter-receiver pairs, and

wherein each cluster comprises a subset having less transmitter-receiver pairs than the randomly selected set.