Subset MMSE Receivers for Cell-Free Networks

This paper formulates linear MMSE receivers that are both network- and user-centric for the uplink of cell-free wireless networks with centralized processing. Precisely, every user's reception involves a distinct subset of access points (APs) while every AP participates in the reception of a distinct subset of users, hence the moniker subset MMSE receivers. These subsets, defined on the basis of the large-scale channel gains between users and APs, capture the most relevant signal and interference contributions while disregarding those whose processing is cost-ineffective and whose associated channel estimations would incur unnecessary overheads. With that, subset reception approaches the performance of network-wide MMSE reception, offering a multiple-fold improvement over cellular and matched-filtering counterparts, while being scalable in terms of cost and channel estimation. Moreover, because the subsets overlap considerably, they can sometimes be advantageously combined and the computation of the corresponding receivers can share a hefty amount of processing.