On Degrees of Freedom Region of MIMO Networks without CSIT

Abstract: In this paper, we study the effect of the absence of channel knowledge for multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) networks. Specifically, we assume perfect channel state information at the receivers, no channel state information at the transmitter(s), and independent identically distributed (i.i.d.) Rayleigh fading across antennas, users and time slots. We provide the characterization of the degrees of freedom (DoF) region for a 2-user MIMO broadcast channel. We then provide a DoF region outer bound for a 2-user MIMO interference channel. This bound is shown to be tight for all possible combinations of the number of antennas at each node except for one case. As a byproduct of this analysis we point out the potential of interference alignment in the 2-user MIMO interference channel with no CSIT.