Interference Alignment Improves the Capacity of OFDM Systems

Abstract: Multi-user Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) and Multiple Output Multiple Output (MIMO) have been widely adopted to enhance the system throughput and combat the detrimental effects of wireless channels. Recently, interference alignment was proposed to exploit interference to enable concurrent transmissions of multiple signals. In this paper, we investigate how to combine these techniques to further enhance the system throughput. We first reveal the unique characteristics and challenges brought about by using interference alignment in diagonal channels. We then derive a performance bound for the multi-user (MIMO) OFDM/interference alignment system under practical constraints, and show how to achieve this bound with a decomposition approach. The superior performance of the proposed scheme is validated with simulations.