Robust LLR aided low feedback precoding for interference alignment

Interference alignment, as proposed in [1], is a joint multi-base-station precoding technique where each interfering base-station determines its precoder so as to obtain aligned interfering signals at each user. Determination of such precoders requires complete channel state information of all the interfering links to be present at all the base-stations. In this paper, we present a modified form of interference alignment based on locally-available channel state information at the user equipment. We consider the downlink of a wireless system where basestations and user equipments are equiped with two antennas each and scheduling of users is done based on Fractional Frequency Reuse. Assuming an MMSE receiver at the user equipment, an expression for the optimal precoder to be used by the interfering base-stations is derived so that there is zero interference after MMSE equalization. We also give an example for the case where there is uncancelled interference despite the use of these precoders. The effect of this uncancelled interference is overcome by the use of a robust LLR developed in [2]. Simulation results that demonstrate the performance of the proposed technique are presented. ©2010 IEEE.