Cooperative Beamforming for Dual-Hop Amplify-and-Forward Multi-Antenna Relaying Cellular Networks

TL;DR

This paper proposes a linear beamforming design for dual-hop amplify-and-forward multi-antenna cellular networks, providing iterative algorithms for uplink and downlink scenarios with demonstrated performance improvements.

Contribution

It introduces a unified beamforming design framework for uplink and downlink in multi-antenna relay networks, including a novel algorithm for fully loaded uplink systems.

Findings

Proposed algorithms outperform existing beamforming methods.

Unified design approach simplifies uplink and downlink beamforming.

Simulation results confirm performance gains.

Abstract

In this paper, linear beamforming design for amplify-and-forward relaying cellular networks is considered, in which base station, relay station and mobile terminals are all equipped with multiple antennas. The design is based on minimum mean-square-error criterion, and both uplink and downlink scenarios are considered. It is found that the downlink and uplink beamforming design problems are in the same form, and iterative algorithms with the same structure can be used to solve the design problems. For the specific cases of fully loaded or overloaded uplink systems, a novel algorithm is derived and its relationships with several existing beamforming design algorithms for conventional MIMO or multiuser systems are revealed. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the performance advantage of the proposed design algorithms.