Channel Estimation and Uplink Achievable Rates in One-Bit Massive MIMO Systems

This paper considers channel estimation and achievable rates for the uplink of a massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system where the base station is equipped with one-bit analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). By rewriting the nonlinear one-bit quantization using a linear expression, we first derive a simple and insightful expression for the linear minimum mean-square-error (LMMSE) channel estimator. Then employing this channel estimator, we derive a closed-form expression for the lower bound of the achievable rate for the maximum ratio combiner (MRC) receiver. Numerical results are presented to verify our analysis and show that our proposed LMMSE channel estimator outperforms the near maximum likelihood (nML) estimator proposed previously.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, the Ninth IEEE Sensor Array and Multichannel Signal Processing Worksho

The Distributed MIMO Scenario: Can Ideal ADCs Be Replaced by Low-resolution ADCs?

This letter considers the architecture of distributed antenna system, which is made up of a massive number of single-antenna remote radio heads (RRHs), some with full-resolution but others with low-resolution analog-to-digital converter (ADC) receivers. This architecture is greatly motivated by its high energy efficiency and low-cost implementation. We derive the worst-case uplink spectral efficiency (SE) of the system assuming a frequency-flat channel and maximum-ratio combining (MRC), and reveal that the SE increases as the number of quantization bits for the low-resolution ADCs increases, and the SE converges as the number of RRHs with low-resolution ADCs grows. Our results furthermore demonstrate that a great improvement can be obtained by adding a majority of RRHs with low-resolution ADC receivers, if sufficient quantization precision and an acceptable proportion of high-to-low resolution RRHs are used.Comment: 4 pages, to be published in IEEE Wireless Communications Letter

One-Bit Massive MIMO: Channel Estimation and High-Order Modulations

We investigate the information-theoretic throughout achievable on a fading communication link when the receiver is equipped with one-bit analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). The analysis is conducted for the setting where neither the transmitter nor the receiver have a priori information on the realization of the fading channels. This means that channel-state information needs to be acquired at the receiver on the basis of the one-bit quantized channel outputs. We show that least-squares (LS) channel estimation combined with joint pilot and data processing is capacity achieving in the single-user, single-receive-antenna case. We also investigate the achievable uplink throughput in a massive multiple-input multiple-output system where each element of the antenna array at the receiver base-station feeds a one-bit ADC. We show that LS channel estimation and maximum-ratio combining are sufficient to support both multiuser operation and the use of high-order constellations. This holds in spite of the severe nonlinearity introduced by the one-bit ADCs