Interference analysis and outage performance of finite multi-antenna ad hoc networks

In this paper, the aggregate interference in a finite-area multi-antenna wireless ad hoc network is statistically characterized. While most of the existing studies model the spatial distribution of transmit nodes as a Poisson point process in an infinite plane, a binomial point process is adopted here to better characterize the node distribution in a finite area. In the test link, maximum-ratio combining (MRC) is employed at the receiver, whereas spatial multiplexing or transmit antenna selection is employed at the transmitter depending on the availability of limited feedback. Moments of aggregate interference as well as outage probability formulas are obtained. Interestingly, for a finite network, our analysis establishes the optimality of single-stream transmissions in spatial multiplexing with a MRC test receiver, and justifies the use of transmit antenna selection for further enhancing the outage performance with limited feedback. Simulations are provided to corroborate the analysis.