Physical layer split for user selective uplink joint reception in SDN enabled Cloud-RAN
17 March 2016
To meet quality of service requirements on the uplink of future cellular networks we need to exploit inter-cell interference between cell-edge users which are likely to be paired. The Cloud Radio Area Network (C-RAN) architecture is particularly favorable to realize cooperation between users in neighboring cells, since signal detection is realized in the same processing unit. The novel technology of Software Defined Networking increases scalability and flexibility of computational resources and network applications. We propose a C-RAN-based architecture and a practical scheme of realizing despite practical limitations uplink joint processing in critical scenarios where strong interference would affect cell-edge users otherwise. We consider characteristics of real network and novel technological solutions necessary for reliable transmission all over the access network. A split in the physical layer enables cooperation in the central processing unit using affordable fronthaul transport infrastructure. In our scenario, the joint detection for a few eligible users simplifies also multi-user channel estimation so that it improves overall performance and cell-edge users' Quality of Service.
