Deep Unfolded Fractional Optimization for Maximizing Robust Throughput in 6G Networks

TL;DR

This paper introduces a deep unfolded fractional programming framework with uncertainty injection for robust beamforming in 6G networks, achieving higher throughput and robustness under imperfect channel conditions.

Contribution

It proposes a novel deep unfolding method that incorporates channel uncertainty during training for robust weighted sum rate maximization in 6G beamforming.

Findings

UI-DUFP outperforms classical and deep learning baselines in throughput.

The method maintains low inference time and scalability.

Enhanced robustness under channel uncertainties.

Abstract

The sixth-generation (6G) of wireless communication networks aims to leverage artificial intelligence tools for efficient and robust network optimization. This is especially the case since traditional optimization methods often face high computational complexity, motivating the use of deep learning (DL)-based optimization frameworks. In this context, this paper considers a multi-antenna base station (BS) serving multiple users simultaneously through transmit beamforming in downlink mode. To account for robustness, this work proposes an uncertainty-injected deep unfolded fractional programming (UI-DUFP) framework for weighted sum rate (WSR) maximization under imperfect channel conditions. The proposed method unfolds fractional programming (FP) iterations into trainable neural network layers refined by projected gradient descent (PGD) steps, while robustness is introduced by injecting sampled channel uncertainties during training and optimizing a quantile-based objective. Simulation results show that the proposed UI-DUFP achieves higher WSR and improved robustness compared to classical weighted minimum mean square error, FP, and DL baselines, while maintaining low inference time and good scalability. These findings highlight the potential of deep unfolding combined with uncertainty-aware training as a powerful approach for robust optimization in 6G networks.