Degrees of Freedom of Over-the-Air Computation over a MIMO Gaussian Network with Two Transmitters and Two Receivers

Abstract

The fundamental limits of over-the-air computation (AirComp) are explored in a two-transmitter, two-receiver MIMO Gaussian network, where both receivers demand the same aggregation of source symbols originating at the two transmitters. An AirComp degrees of freedom (ACDoF) metric is defined, constrained by an asymptotic mean-squared error threshold. For a generic MIMO setting where the two transmitters are equipped with $M_1, M_2$ antennas, and the two receivers with $N_1, N_2$ antennas, the AirComp DoF value is shown to be almost surely equal to $\min\{M_1,M_2,N_1,N_2,(1/3)\max\{M_1+M_2,N_1+N_2\}\}$. For SISO settings results are extended beyond generic channels to arbitrary channel realizations. For finite signal-to-noise ratio(SNR) settings, an iterative alternating optimization algorithm is explored.