On the sum capacity of cluster-based cooperative cellular networks

We examine the sum capacity of a cluster-based cooperative cellular network where a linear minimum-mean squared error (LMMSE) estimator is deployed across a cluster of base stations to estimate multiple in-cluster users. Different from previous works, we examine the impact of interference from out-of-cluster users whose transmit power scales with that of the in-cluster users. For such a network, we derive the sum capacity of the in-cluster users with independent Rayleigh fading and arbitrary path loss. The sum capacity expression is based on accurate approximations we derive for the characteristic function and the probability density function of the in-cluster users' signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratios (SINRs). Numerical examples demonstrate that our new analytical expressions accurately characterize the impact of out-of-cluster interference and cluster size on the sum capacity. We observe that out-ofcluster interference results in a sum capacity saturation regime when the transmit power is large. We also illustrate that the saturation threshold increases with the cluster size. Furthermore, we examine the sum capacity under different path loss exponents which highlights the significance of out-of-cluster interference.