Method and system for interference assessment and reduction in a wireless communication system

A wireless communication system for reducing interference utilizing an antenna array, the antenna array using one or more signal channels for communicating with one or more mobile terminals, comprising means for:

• assigning at least one channel as an empty channel in which no desired signal is carried so as to provide a representation of all relevant interference;
• analyzing a spatial signature of the signal channels based on the interference received on the empty channel and the desired signals received on at least one signal channel;
• and
• reducing the interference on the signal channels by utilizing the analyzed spatial signature and the representation of all relevant interference, wherein the analyzing further includes:
• estimating data covariance matrices, Rin and Rx, wherein Rin is a covariance matrix of the empty channel and Rx is a covariance matrix of the signal channel;
• estimating the spatial signature of the signal channel by finding a generalized principal eigenvector of a matrix pencil {Rx, Rin};
• and
• obtaining a nulling weight vector for the signal channels based on the spatial signature and Rin.

A method for reducing interference in a wireless communication system utilizing an antenna array, the antenna array using one or more channels for communicating with one or more mobile terminals, comprising:

• assigning at least one channel as an empty channel in which no desired signal is carried so as to provide a representation of all relevant interference;
• analyzing a spatial signature of the channels based on the interference received on the empty channel and signals of a training sequence received on at least one signal channel;
• and
• reducing the interference on the signal channels by utilizing the analyzed spatial signature and the representation of all relevant interference, wherein the analyzing further includes:
• estimating the spatial signature of the signal channel by finding a generalized principal eigenvector of a matrix pencil {Rx, Rin};
• obtaining a nulling weight vector for the signal channel based on the spatial signature and the covariance matrix of the signal channel;
• determining a beamforming vector based on the nulling weight vector;
• detecting the signals of the training sequence from the beamforming vector;
• and
• repeating the above four steps until a predetermined condition is satisfied.