Low-Complexity Nonlinear Zero-Forcing Precoding Under Per-Line Power Constraints for Improved Downstream G.fast Active-User Peak-Rates

• Published in: IEEE transactions on communications 2018-06, Vol.66 (6), p.2696-2707
• Main Authors: Lanneer, Wouter, Tsiaflakis, Paschalis, Maes, Jochen, Moonen, Marc
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algorithm design and analysis; Algorithms; Complexity; Computer simulation; Crosstalk; Decomposition; DSL; dynamic spectrum management; Frequency ranges; G.fast; Lagrange multiplier; nonlinear precoding; Optimization; per-line power constraints; Precoding; Signal to noise ratio; State of the art; zero-forcing (ZF)
• ISSN: 0090-6778; 1558-0857
• DOI: 10.1109/TCOMM.2018.2799613

We consider nonlinear zero-forcing (ZF) precoding design to improve the downstream G.fast peak-rates when only a few users in the cable binder are active. In order to compute the optimal nonlinear ZF precoder under per-line power constraints (PLPCs), we present a novel low-complexity dual decomposition algorithm, in which the key is the use of Lagrange multiplier based virtual precoders to transform the PLPCs into an easier virtual sum-power constraint (SPC), such that the SPC-optimality of the QR decomposition-based precoder may be exploited. We show a reduced computational complexity of this algorithm over the state-of-the-art SVD-block-diagonalization-based dual decomposition algorithm. We present simulations of a 10-line cable binder that demonstrate substantial peak-rate gains over standard QR decomposition-based ZF precoding in DSL, due to the increasingly stronger crosstalk channels in the G.fast frequency range (up to 212 MHz). Furthermore, we show that the proposed algorithm naturally extends to the scenario with multiple lines terminating at the customer premise equipments.