Distributed inter-cluster interference management for CoMP-based cellular networks

This paper proposes distributed inter-cluster interference management procedures for 1 Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) Time Division Duplexing (TDD) cellular networks, in which a set of base stations (BSs), that form a cluster, cooperate in the downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) transmissions to communicate with a group of users while causing interference to users in neighbor clusters. In order to reduce the complications associated to the estimation of the interfering channels, we describe new iterative procedures based on channel reciprocity that avoid such estimation by exploiting the received signal in the UL, provided that transmit and receive filters in DL and UL are properly designed. Simulations show that proposed techniques attain significant DL and UL spectral efficiency gains. Furthermore, an analysis of imperfect channel state information (CSI) at both ends is included, evidencing the robustness of the proposed procedures. Considerations on convergence are included.