This paper studies the impact of channel error on the achievable rate of symmetrical K-user multiple-input multiple-output linear interference alignment (IA) networks. The upper and lower bounds of the achievable sum rate are derived analytically with the assumption of orthonormal transmit precoders and receive filters designed from imperfect channel state information (CSI) over both the uncorrelated and correlated channels. For uncorrelated channels, quite tight lower and upper bounds are obtained. The impact of channel error on the degrees of freedom (DoF) and the DoF persistence conditions are also investigated. Results show that the DoF of IA networks persists only if the channel error decreases in an order higher than the signal-to-noise ratio. For correlated channel, the lower and upper bounds for one realization of IA are derived. The derived upper bound can be used to characterize the achievable rate approximately. Simulation results indicate that the achievable rate of IA network is influenced significantly by CSI uncertainty. The obtained analytical bounds provide an intuitive way to show the impact of channel error on the achievable rate and thus can help practical systems deign.
Read full abstract