Opportunistic Interference Alignment for Random Access Networks

TL;DR

This paper introduces an opportunistic interference alignment method for overlapped random access networks with multiple antennas, combining physical layer beamforming and MAC layer strategies to improve interference management.

Contribution

It proposes a novel joint optimization technique that integrates interference alignment with opportunistic packet transmission in random access networks.

Findings

Significant performance improvement over traditional schemes

Effective interference mitigation among overlapped RANs

Enhanced network throughput and reliability

Abstract

An interference management problem among multiple overlapped random access networks (RANs) is investigated, each of which operates with slotted ALOHA protocol. Assuming that access points and users have multiple antennas, a novel opportunistic interference alignment~(OIA) is proposed to mitigate interference among overlapped RANs. The proposed technique intelligently combines the transmit beamforming technique at the physical layer and the opportunistic packet transmission at the medium access control layer. The transmit beamforming is based on interference alignment and the opportunistic packet transmission is based on the generating interference of users to other RANs, which can be regarded as a joint optimization of the physical layer and the medium access control layer. It is shown that the proposed OIA protocol significantly outperforms the conventional schemes such as multi-packet reception and interference nulling.