In order to meet ever-growing needs for capacity in wireless networks, transmission techniques and the system models used to study their performances have rapidly evolved. From single-user single-antenna point-to-point communications to modern multi-cell multi-antenna cellular networks there have been large advances in technology. Along the way, several assumptions are made in order to have either more realistic models, but also to allow simpler analysis. We analyze three aspects of actual networks and try to benefit from them when possible or conversely, to mitigate their negative impact. This sometimes corrects overly optimistic results, for instance when delay in the channel state information (CSI) acquisition is no longer neglected. However, this sometimes also corrects overly pessimistic results, for instance when in a broadcast channel (BC) the number of users is no longer limited to be equal to the number of transmit antennas or when partial connectivity is taken into account in cellular networks.
In this thesis we focus on the delay in the CSI acquisition. Precisely, when taken into account, this delay greatly impairs the channel multiplexing gain if nothing is done to use the dead time during which the transmitters are not transmitting and do not yet have the CSI. We review and propose different schemes to efficiently use this dead time to improve the multiplexing gain in both the BC and the interference channel (IC). We evaluate the more relevant net multiplexing gain, taking into account the training and feedback overhead. Results are surprising because potential schemes to fight delay reveal to be burdened by impractical overheads in the BC. In the IC, an optimal scheme is proposed. It allows avoiding any loss of multiplexing gain even for significant delay in the CSI acquisition. Concerning the number of users, we propose a new criterion for the greedy user selection in a BC to benefit of the multi-user diversity, and two interference alignment (IA) schemes for the IC to benefit of having multiple users in each cell. Finally, partially connected cellular networks are considered and schemes to benefit from said partial connectivity to increase the multiplexing gain are proposed.