Multiuser Diversity in Interfering Broadcast Channels: Achievable Degrees of Freedom and User Scaling Law

Abstract

This paper investigates how multiuser dimensions can effectively be exploited for target degrees of freedom (DoF) in interfering broadcast channels (IBC) consisting of K-transmitters and their user groups. First, each transmitter is assumed to have a single antenna and serve a single user in its user group where each user has receive antennas less than K. In this case, a K-transmitter single-input multiple-output (SIMO) interference channel (IC) is constituted after user selection. Without help of multiuser diversity, K - 1 interfering signals cannot be perfectly removed at each user since the number of receive antennas is smaller than or equal to the number of interferers. Only with proper user selection, non-zero DoF per transmitter is achievable as the number of users increases. Through geometric interpretation of interfering channels, we show that the multiuser dimensions have to be used first for reducing the DoF loss caused by the interfering signals, and then have to be used for increasing the DoF gain from its own signal. The sufficient number of users for the target DoF is derived. We also discuss how the optimal strategy of exploiting multiuser diversity can be realized by practical user selection schemes. Finally, the single transmit antenna case is extended to the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) IBC where each transmitter with multiple antennas serves multiple users.