Modeling and Analysis of User-Centric and Disjoint Cooperation in Network MIMO Systems

This thesis provides an analytical performance characterization of user-centric and disjoint cooperation for both uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) network multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, where base-stations (BSs) form clusters to jointly transmit information to and receive information from multiple mobile users. We specically focus on the user-centric BS clustering strategy in which cooperating cluster of neighboring BSs is formed for each user individually and the clusters for dierent users may overlap. We consider the random topology where the BSs and users form Poisson point processes to facilitate analysis. This thesis shows that as compared to with disjoint BS clusters, the effect of user-centric clustering is that it improves signal strength in both UL and DL, while reducing cluster-edge interference in the DL. As a result, user-centric clustering has larger ergodic rate gain in the UL than DL, while it has significant rate gain for cluster-edge users in the DL.