Optimal Randomization of Signal Constellations on the Downlink of a Multiuser DS-CDMA System

In this study, the jointly optimal power control with signal constellation randomization is proposed for the downlink of a multiuser communications system. Unlike a conventional system in which a fixed signal constellation is employed for all the bits of a user (for given channel conditions and noise power), power control with signal constellation randomization involves randomization/time-sharing among different signal constellations for each user. A formulation is obtained for the problem of optimal power control with signal constellation randomization, and it is shown that the optimal solution can be represented by a randomization among (K+1) or fewer distinct signal constellations for each user, where K denotes the number of users. In addition to the original nonconvex formulation, an approximate solution based on convex relaxation is derived. Then, detailed performance analysis is presented when the receivers employ symmetric signaling and sign detectors. Specifically, the maximum asymptotical improvement ratio is shown to be equal to the number of users, and the conditions under which the maximum and minimum asymptotical improvement ratios are achieved are derived. Numerical examples are presented to investigate the theoretical results, and to illustrate performance improvements achieved via the proposed approach.