Massive MIMO is a Reality -- What is Next? Five Promising Research Directions for Antenna Arrays

Massive MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) is no longer a "wild" or "promising" concept for future cellular networks - in 2018 it became a reality. Base stations (BSs) with 64 fully digital transceiver chains were commercially deployed in several countries, the key ingredients of Massive MIMO have made it into the 5G standard, the signal processing methods required to achieve unprecedented spectral efficiency have been developed, and the limitation due to pilot contamination has been resolved. Even the development of fully digital Massive MIMO arrays for mmWave frequencies - once viewed prohibitively complicated and costly - is well underway. In a few years, Massive MIMO with fully digital transceivers will be a mainstream feature at both sub-6 GHz and mmWave frequencies. In this paper, we explain how the first chapter of the Massive MIMO research saga has come to an end, while the story has just begun. The coming wide-scale deployment of BSs with massive antenna arrays opens the door to a brand new world where spatial processing capabilities are omnipresent. In addition to mobile broadband services, the antennas can be used for other communication applications, such as low-power machine-type or ultra-reliable communications, as well as non-communication applications such as radar, sensing and positioning. We outline five new Massive MIMO related research directions: Extremely large aperture arrays, Holographic Massive MIMO, Six-dimensional positioning, Large-scale MIMO radar, and Intelligent Massive MIMO.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Digital Signal Processin

Millimetre wave frequency band as a candidate spectrum for 5G network architecture : a survey

In order to meet the huge growth in global mobile data traffic in 2020 and beyond, the development of the 5th Generation (5G) system is required as the current 4G system is expected to fall short of the provision needed for such growth. 5G is anticipated to use a higher carrier frequency in the millimetre wave (mm-wave) band, within the 20 to 90 GHz, due to the availability of a vast amount of unexploited bandwidth. It is a revolutionary step to use these bands because of their different propagation characteristics, severe atmospheric attenuation, and hardware constraints. In this paper, we carry out a survey of 5G research contributions and proposed design architectures based on mm-wave communications. We present and discuss the use of mm-wave as indoor and outdoor mobile access, as a wireless backhaul solution, and as a key enabler for higher order sectorisation. Wireless standards such as IEE802.11ad, which are operating in mm-wave band have been presented. These standards have been designed for short range, ultra high data throughput systems in the 60 GHz band. Furthermore, this survey provides new insights regarding relevant and open issues in adopting mm-wave for 5G networks. This includes increased handoff rate and interference in Ultra-Dense Network (UDN), waveform consideration with higher spectral efficiency, and supporting spatial multiplexing in mm-wave line of sight. This survey also introduces a distributed base station architecture in mm-wave as an approach to address increased handoff rate in UDN, and to provide an alternative way for network densification in a time and cost effective manner

Transition technologies towards 6G networks

[EN] The sixth generation (6G) mobile systems will create new markets, services, and industries making possible a plethora of new opportunities and solutions. Commercially successful rollouts will involve scaling enabling technologies, such as cloud radio access networks, virtualization, and artificial intelligence. This paper addresses the principal technologies in the transition towards next generation mobile networks. The convergence of 6G key-performance indicators along with evaluation methodologies and use cases are also addressed. Free-space optics, Terahertz systems, photonic integrated circuits, softwarization, massive multiple-input multiple-output signaling, and multi-core fibers, are among the technologies identified and discussed. Finally, some of these technologies are showcased in an experimental demonstration of a mobile fronthaul system based on millimeter 5G NR OFDM signaling compliant with 3GPP Rel. 15. The signals are generated by a bespoke 5G baseband unit and transmitted through both a 10 km prototype multi-core fiber and 4 m wireless V-band link using a pair of directional 60 GHz antennas with 10 degrees beamwidth. Results shown that the 5G and beyond fronthaul system can successfully transmit signals with both wide bandwidth (up to 800 MHz) and fully centralized signal processing. As a result, this system can support large capacity and accommodate several simultaneous users as a key candidate for next generation mobile networks. Thus, these technologies will be needed for fully integrated, heterogeneous solutions to benefit from hardware commoditization and softwarization. They will ensure the ultimate user experience, while also anticipating the quality-of-service demands that future applications and services will put on 6G networks.This work was partially funded by the blueSPACE and 5G-PHOS 5G-PPP phase 2 projects, which have received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme under Grant Agreements Number 762055 and 761989. D. PerezGalacho acknowledges the funding of the Spanish Science Ministry through the Juan de la Cierva programme.Raddo, TR.; Rommel, S.; Cimoli, B.; Vagionas, C.; Pérez-Galacho, D.; Pikasis, E.; Grivas, E.... (2021). Transition technologies towards 6G networks. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking. 2021(1):1-22. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13638-021-01973-91222021

Massive MIMO Performance - TDD Versus FDD: What Do Measurements Say?

Downlink beamforming in Massive MIMO either relies on uplink pilot measurements - exploiting reciprocity and TDD operation, or on the use of a predetermined grid of beams with user equipments reporting their preferred beams, mostly in FDD operation. Massive MIMO in its originally conceived form uses the first strategy, with uplink pilots, whereas there is currently significant commercial interest in the second, grid-of-beams. It has been analytically shown that in isotropic scattering (independent Rayleigh fading) the first approach outperforms the second. Nevertheless there remains controversy regarding their relative performance in practice. In this contribution, the performances of these two strategies are compared using measured channel data at 2.6 GHz.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 31/Mar/201

System-level assessment of low complexity hybrid precoding designs for massive MIMO downlink transmissions in beyond 5G networks

The fast growth experienced by the telecommunications field during the last few decades has been motivating the academy and the industry to invest in the design, testing and deployment of new evolutions of wireless communication systems. Terahertz (THz) communication represents one of the possible technologies to explore in order to achieve the desired achievable rates above 100 Gbps and the extremely low latency required in many envisioned applications. Despite the potentialities, it requires proper system design, since working in the THz band brings a set of challenges, such as the reflection and scattering losses through the transmission path, the high dependency with distance and the severe hardware constraints. One key approach for overcoming some of these challenges relies on the use of massive/ultramassive antenna arrays combined with hybrid precoders based on fully connected phase-shifter architectures or partially connected architectures, such as arrays of subarrays (AoSAs) or dynamic AoSAs (DAoSAs). Through this strategy, it is possible to obtain very high-performance gains while drastically simplifying the practical implementation and reducing the overall power consumption of the system when compared to a fully digital approach. Although these types of solutions have been previously proposed to address some of the limitations of mmWave/THz communications, a lack between link-level and system-level analysis is commonly verified. In this paper, we present a thorough system-level assessment of a cloud radio access network (C-RAN) for beyond 5G (B5G) systems where the access points (APs) operate in the mmWave/THz bands, supporting multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) transmission with massive/ultra-massive antenna arrays combined with low-complexity hybrid precoding architectures. Results showed that the C-RAN deployments in two indoor office scenarios for the THz were capable of achieving good throughput and coverage performances, with only a small compromise in terms of gains when adopting reduced complexity hybrid precoders. Furthermore, we observed that the indoor-mixed office scenario can provide higher throughput and coverage performances independently of the cluster size when compared to the indoor-open office scenario.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

State-of-the-art assessment of 5G mmWave communications

Deliverable D2.1 del proyecto 5GWirelessMain objective of the European 5Gwireless project, which is part of the H2020 Marie Slodowska- Curie ITN (Innovative Training Networks) program resides in the training and involvement of young researchers in the elaboration of future mobile communication networks, focusing on innovative wireless technologies, heterogeneous network architectures, new topologies (including ultra-dense deployments), and appropriate tools. The present Document D2.1 is the first deliverable of Work- Package 2 (WP2) that is specifically devoted to the modeling of the millimeter-wave (mmWave) propagation channels, and development of appropriate mmWave beamforming and signal processing techniques. Deliver D2.1 gives a state-of-the-art on the mmWave channel measurement, characterization and modeling; existing antenna array technologies, channel estimation and precoding algorithms; proposed deployment and networking techniques; some performance studies; as well as a review on the evaluation and analysis toolsPostprint (published version

Multiuser Parallel Transmission with 1-tap Time Domain Beamforming by Millimeter Wave Massive Antenna Arrays

This paper investigates the feasibility of multiuser parallel transmission by sub-array beamforming using millimeter wave bands in which the Line-of-Sight (LoS) dominant channel environment is expected. Focusing on high beamforming gain provided by the massive antenna array, each sub-array conducts first eigenmode transmission and thus one stream is allocated per user without null steering. This paper also proposes 1-tap time domain beamforming (TDBF) as the same weight is applied to all frequency components. It reduces computation complexity as well as suppressing the effect of additive noise on weight derivation. Computer simulation results show that increasing the subarray spacing stably improves signal-to-interference power ratio (SIR) performance and that the proposed 1-tap TDBF can match the performance of the frequency domain first eigenmode transmission as a rigorous solution

Optimization of Spectrum Management in Massive Array Antenna Systems with MIMO

Fifth generation (5G), is being considered as a revolutionary technology in the telecommunication domain whose the challenges are mainly to achieve signal quality and great ability to work with free spectrum in the millimetre waves. Besides, other important innovations are the introduction of a more current architecture and the use of multiple antennas in transmission and reception. Digital communication using multiple input and multiple output (MIMO) wireless links has recently emerged as one of the most significant technical advances in modern communications. MIMO technology is able to offer a large increase in the capacity of these systems, without requiring a considerable increase in bandwidth or power required for transmission. This dissertation presents an overview of theoretical concepts of MIMO systems. With such a system a spatial diversity gain can be obtained by using space-time codes, which simultaneously exploit the spatial domain and the time domain. SISO, SIMO and MISO systems are differentiated by their channel capacity and their configuration in relation to the number of antennas in the transmitter/receiver. To verify the effectiveness of the MIMO systems a comparison between the capacity of SISO and MIMO systems has been performed using the Shannon’s principles. In the MIMO system some variations in the number of antennas arrays have been considered, and the superiority of transmission gains of the MIMO systems have been demonstrated. Combined with millimetre waves (mmWaves) technology, massive MIMO systems, where the number of antennas in the base station and the number of users are large, is a promising solution. SDR implementations have been performed considering a platform with Matlab code applied to MIMO 2x2 Radio and Universal Software Peripheral Radio (USRP). A detailed study was initially conducted to analyze the architecture of the USRP. Complex structures of MIMO systems can be simplified by using mathematical methods implemented in Matlab for the synchronization of the USRP in the receiver side. SISO transmission and reception techniques have been considered to refine the synchronization (with 16-QAM), thus facilitating the future implementation of the MIMO system. OpenAirInterface has been considered for 4G and 5G implementations of actual mobile radio communication systems. Together with the practical MIMO, this type of solution is the starting point for future hardware building blocks involving massive MIMO systems.A quinta geração (5G) está sendo considerada uma tecnologia revolucionária no setor de telecomunicações, cujos desafios são principalmente a obtenção de qualidade de sinal e grande capacidade de trabalhar com espectro livre nas ondas milimétricas. Além disso, outras inovações importantes são a introdução de uma arquitetura mais atual e o uso de múltiplas antenas em transmissão e recepção. A comunicação digital usando ligaçõe sem fio de múltiplas entradas e múltiplas saídas (MIMO) emergiu recentemente como um dos avanços técnicos mais significativos nas comunicações modernas. A tecnologia MIMO é capaz de oferecer um elevado aumento na capacidade, sem exigir um aumento considerável na largura de banda ou potência transmitida. Esta dissertação apresenta uma visão geral dos conceitos teóricos dos sistemas MIMO. Com esses sistemas, um ganho de diversidade espacial pode ser obtido utilizando códigos espaço-tempo reais. Os sistemas SISO, SIMO e MISO são diferenciados pela capacidade de seus canais e a sua configuração em relação ao número de antenas no emissor/receptor. Para verificar a eficiência dos sistemas MIMO, realizou-se uma comparação entre a capacidade dos sistemas SISO e MIMO utilizado os princípios de Shannon. Nos sistemas MIMO condecideraram-se algumas variações no número de agregados de antenas, e a superioridade dos ganhos de transmissão dos sistemas MIMO foi demonstrada. Combinado com a tecnologia de ondas milimétricas (mmWaves), os sistemas massivos MIMO, onde o número de antenas na estação base e o número de usuários são grandes, são uma solução promissora. As implementações do SDR foram realizadas considerando uma plataforma com código Matlab aplicado aos rádios MIMO 2x2 e Universal Software Peripheral Radio (USRP). Um estudo detalhado foi inicialmente conduzido para analisar a arquitetura da USRP. Estruturas complexas de sistemas MIMO podem ser simplificadas usando métodos matemáticos implementados no Matlab para a sincronização do USRP no lado do receptor. Consideraram-se técnicas de transmissão e recepção SISO para refinar a sincronização (com 16-QAM), facilitando assim a implementação futura do sistema MIMO . Considerou-se o OpenAirInterface para implementações 4G e 5G de sistemas reais de comunicações móveis. Juntamente com o MIMO na pratica, este tipo de solução é o ponto de partida para futuros blocos de construção de hardware envolvendo sistemas MIMO massivos