Decentralized Coordinated Precoding for Dense TDD Small Cell Networks

Cellular networks need the densification of small eNBs (SeNBs) to face the tremendous data traffic demand growth, implying an interference increase and making transmit coordination a key enabler. This article proposes a decentralized coordinated precoding (D-CoP) for downlink (DL) weighted sum-rate maximization in dense MIMO TDD small cell networks (SCNs). Each SeNB designs its own precoding matrices based on channel state information (CSI) of the served users and knowledge of the interference-cost matrix that allows managing interference towards unintended users. A protocol is proposed to acquire the interference-cost matrix by processing the uplink (UL) received signal provided that: (1) channel reciprocity can be assumed and (2) all users participating in DL can transmit in UL with an adequate transmit filter. In contrast to existing transmit coordination techniques, D-CoP is fully scalable, avoids estimation of the interfering channels, and does not require information exchange between SeNBs. In case all parameters are perfectly acquired, an iterative algorithm is presented with demonstrated monotonic convergence when all SeNBs update its transmit precoders simultaneously. Further, the problem is reformulated in order to derive a robust D-CoP under imperfect CSI conditions. Finally, simulations in 3GPP LTE-Advanced SCNs show significant user packet throughput gains, without increasing the complexity associated to transmit coordination. Robustness to imperfect CSI and non-ideal channel reciprocity is shown through simulations.