User Pairing and Precoder Design with Han-Kobayashi Transmission Strategy in MU-MIMO Multicell Networks

This paper considers the Han-Kobayashi transmission strategy that mitigates the downlink intercell interference in a multiuser multi-input multi-output (MU-MIMO) multicell network. The base station (BS) splits the transmitted data of a user (UE) into a common message and a private message, the former of which is then decoded by a paired UE in another cell so as to reduce the respective cross-cell interference. Our aim here is to develop (i) A pairing rule that determines pairs of UEs to share common messages, and (ii) Optimal precoders at the BSs that maximize either the minimum UE throughput or the network sum-rate. To solve the combinatoric UE pairing problem, we propose a heuristic that pairs UEs with the largest corresponding cross-cell channel gains. This approach ensures that the most significant source of intercell interference is eliminated through common message decoding. We then apply the Frank-and-Wolfe procedure of concave programming to solve the highly nonconvex precoder design problems. We show that this procedure generates a sequence of improved solutions and eventually converges to at least a local optimum. Numerical results confirm the advantages of our proposed solution over the conventional strategy where intercell interference is treated as noise.