Robust Beamforming in Interference Channels with Imperfect Transmitter Channel Information

TL;DR

This paper develops a robust beamforming framework for multi-user interference channels with imperfect channel knowledge, characterizing Pareto optimal solutions and analyzing spectral efficiency under different SNR regimes.

Contribution

It introduces a parameterized characterization of Pareto optimal robust beamforming vectors under bounded channel estimation errors.

Findings

Zero forcing achieves full multiplexing gain only if errors scale with inverse SNR.

Single-user transmission is optimal at high SNR if errors are SNR independent.

Robust maximum ratio transmission minimizes energy per bit at low SNR.

Abstract

We consider $K$ links operating concurrently in the same spectral band. Each transmitter has multiple antennas, while each receiver uses a single antenna. This setting corresponds to the multiple-input single-output interference channel. We assume perfect channel state information at the single-user decoding receivers whereas the transmitters only have estimates of the true channels. The channel estimation errors are assumed to be bounded in elliptical regions whose geometry is known at the transmitters. Robust beamforming optimizes worst-case received power gains, and a Pareto optimal point is a worst-case achievable rate tuple from which it is impossible to increase a link's performance without degrading the performance of another. We characterize the robust beamforming vectors necessary to operate at any Pareto optimal point. Moreover, these beamforming vectors are parameterized by $K(K-1)$ real-valued parameters. We analyze the system's spectral efficiency at high and low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Zero forcing transmission achieves full multiplexing gain at high SNR only if the estimation errors scale linearly with inverse SNR. If the errors are SNR independent, then single-user transmission is optimal at high SNR. At low SNR, robust maximum ratio transmission optimizes the minimum energy per bit for reliable communication. Numerical simulations illustrate the gained theoretical results.