A Leakage-Based Solution for Interference Alignment in MIMO Interference Channel Networks

Most recent research on iterative solutions for interference alignment (IA) presents solutions assuming channel reciprocity based on the suppression of interference from undesired sources by using an appropriate decoding matrix also known as a receiver combining matrix for multiple input multiple output (MIMO) interference channel networks and reciprocal networks. In this paper, we present an alternative solution for IA by designing precoding and decoding matrices based on the concept of signal leakage (the measure of signal power that leaks to unintended users) on each transmit side. We propose an iterative algorithm for an IA solution based on maximization of the signal-to-leakage-and-noise ratio (SLNR) of the transmitted signal from each transmitter. In order to make an algorithm removing the requirement of channel reciprocity, we deploy maximization of the signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) in the design of the decoding matrices. We show through simulation that minimizing the leakage in each transmission can help achieve enhanced performance in terms of aggregate sum capacity in the system.