Home > Published Issues > 2026 > Volume 21, No. 2, 2026 >
JCM 2026 Vol.21(2): 201-210
Doi: 10.12720/jcm.21.2.201-210

Advanced Interference Management Techniques for 5G/6G Wireless Networks: A Brief Overview

Ebenezer Esenogho* and Sylvester Akiishi
Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Multidisciplinary Innovation Studies, CAIMIS, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa
Email: esenoe@unisa.ac.za (E. E); akiisst@unisa.ac.za (S.A)
*Corresponding author

Manuscript received September 27, 2025; revised November 17, 2025; accepted December 8, 2025; published March 10, 2026.

Abstract—Multi-hop communications are increasingly becoming critical in 5G/6G wireless networks. However, the technique is confronted with many interference challenges that are also performance-limiting factors, especially in the management of data flows. Conventional methods to mitigate interference are non-optimal and can only be applied in some special cases. The recent advancements in information theory have enabled a paradigm shift towards interference management with the emergence of interference shaping schemes termed Advanced Interference Management (AIM) techniques. The AIM techniques are novel network-side approaches developed, showing promising theoretical performance results. Despite the excellent theoretical performance results, AIM techniques are far from practical implementation, and there remains an open gap in the literature. This brief study outlines two (2) novel, promising AIM techniques: Interference Alignment (IA) and Interference Neutralization (IN). Specifically, some fundamental aspects of IA and IN are discussed, including their concepts, schemes, and applications to 5G and 6G networks. In addition, open research issues that dampen practical applications are presented.


Keywords—5G, 6G, interference alignment, interference neutralization, degree of freedom, channel state information


Cite: Ebenezer Esenogho and Sylvester Akiishi, “Advanced Interference Management Techniques for 5G/6G Wireless Networks: A Brief Overview," Journal of Communications, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 201-210, 2026.

Copyright © 2026 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).

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