Zero-forcing Precoding

Zero-forcing Precoding

Zero-forcing (or Null-Steering) precoding is a spatial signal processing by which the multiple antenna transmitter can null multiuser interference signals in wireless communications. Regularized zero-forcing precoding is enhanced processing to consider the impact on a background noise and unknown user interference, where the background noise and the unknown user interference can be emphasized in the result of (known) interference signal nulling.

In particular, Null-Steering is a method of beamforming for narrowband signals where we want to have a simple way of compensating delays of receiving signals from a specific source at different elements of the antenna array. In general to make use of the antenna arrays, we better to sum and average the signals coming to different elements, but this is only possible when delays are equal. Otherwise we first need to compensate the delays and then to sum them up. To reach this goal, we may only add the weighted version of the signals with appropriate weight values. We do this in such a way that the frequency domain output of this weighted sum produces a zero result. This method is called null steering. The generated weights are of course related to each other and this relation is a function of delay and central working frequency of the source.