Relay X channels without channel state information at the transmit sides: Degrees of freedom

This paper focuses on the two-user relay-assisted X channel with no channel state information (CSI) available at the transmitter side. Two relaying modes, namely half-duplex decode-and-forward (DF) and cognitive relays, are considered and the degrees of freedom (DoF) are characterized. It is shown that assisted by a half-duplex DF relay that is equipped with 2M antennas, the X channel with two M-antenna users has 4M/3 DoF, which is achievable through interference alignment (IA). Furthermore, it is shown that in this channel, an M-antenna cognitive relay (with non-causal access to information streams) provides 2M DoF using interference cancellation (IC) technique. In this setting, IC outperforms interference alignment in the cognitive relay mode, since the latter achieves 4M/3 DoF.