  An uplink-downlink two-cell cellular network is studied in which the first
base station (BS) with $M_1$ antennas receives independent messages from its
$N_1$ serving users, while the second BS with $M_2$ antennas transmits
independent messages to its $N_2$ serving users. That is, the first and second
cells operate as uplink and downlink, respectively. Each user is assumed to
have a single antenna. Under this uplink-downlink setting, the sum degrees of
freedom (DoF) is completely characterized as the minimum of
$(N_1N_2+\min(M_1,N_1)(N_1-N_2)^++\min(M_2,N_2)(N_2-N_1)^+)/\max(N_1,N_2)$,
$M_1+N_2,M_2+N_1$, $\max(M_1,M_2)$, and $\max(N_1,N_2)$, where $a^+$ denotes
$\max(0,a)$. The result demonstrates that, for a broad class of network
configurations, operating one of the two cells as uplink and the other cell as
downlink can strictly improve the sum DoF compared to the conventional uplink
or downlink operation, in which both cells operate as either uplink or
downlink. The DoF gain from such uplink-downlink operation is further shown to
be achievable for heterogeneous cellular networks having hotspots and with
delayed channel state information.
