Multi-cell opportunistic beamforming in interference-limited networks

Abstract

In this paper, we consider a cellular network operating according to the classical opportunistic beamforming and scheduling scheme. In a multi-cell network, interference is the main bottleneck on the communication rate, compared to noise. In this paper, we focus on deriving the ergodic downlink sum-rate scaling law for the system of interest considering an interference-limited regime (i.e., the high SNR region). More specifically, through deriving the moment generating function of the sum-rate, we show that the ergodic downlink sum-rate scales logarithmically as the number of users grows large. This result is different from the well-known double logarithmic sum-rate growth with increasing number of users due to the interference-limited assumption. Finally, numerical results are also presented to validate our analysis and provide further insights.