49 research outputs found
Extremely-Fast, Energy-Efficient Massive MIMO Precoding with Analog RRAM Matrix Computing
Signal processing in wireless communications, such as precoding, detection,
and channel estimation, are basically about solving inverse matrix problems,
which, however, are slow and inefficient in conventional digital computers,
thus requiring a radical paradigm shift to achieve fast, real-time solutions.
Here, for the first time, we apply the emerging analog matrix computing (AMC)
to the linear precoding of massive MIMO. The real-valued AMC concept is
extended to process complex-valued signals. In order to adapt the MIMO channel
models to RRAM conductance mapping, a new matrix inversion circuit is
developed. In addition, fully analog dataflow and optimized operational
amplifiers are designed to support AMC precoding implementation. Simulation
results show that the zero-forcing precoding is solved within 20 ns for a
16x128 MIMO system, which is two orders of magnitude faster than the
conventional digital approach. Meanwhile, the energy efficiency is improved by
50x.Comment: Submitted to an IEEE journal for possible publicatio
Efficient DSP and Circuit Architectures for Massive MIMO: State-of-the-Art and Future Directions
Massive MIMO is a compelling wireless access concept that relies on the use
of an excess number of base-station antennas, relative to the number of active
terminals. This technology is a main component of 5G New Radio (NR) and
addresses all important requirements of future wireless standards: a great
capacity increase, the support of many simultaneous users, and improvement in
energy efficiency. Massive MIMO requires the simultaneous processing of signals
from many antenna chains, and computational operations on large matrices. The
complexity of the digital processing has been viewed as a fundamental obstacle
to the feasibility of Massive MIMO in the past. Recent advances on
system-algorithm-hardware co-design have led to extremely energy-efficient
implementations. These exploit opportunities in deeply-scaled silicon
technologies and perform partly distributed processing to cope with the
bottlenecks encountered in the interconnection of many signals. For example,
prototype ASIC implementations have demonstrated zero-forcing precoding in real
time at a 55 mW power consumption (20 MHz bandwidth, 128 antennas, multiplexing
of 8 terminals). Coarse and even error-prone digital processing in the antenna
paths permits a reduction of consumption with a factor of 2 to 5. This article
summarizes the fundamental technical contributions to efficient digital signal
processing for Massive MIMO. The opportunities and constraints on operating on
low-complexity RF and analog hardware chains are clarified. It illustrates how
terminals can benefit from improved energy efficiency. The status of technology
and real-life prototypes discussed. Open challenges and directions for future
research are suggested.Comment: submitted to IEEE transactions on signal processin
Massive MIMO Systems With Low-Resolution ADCs: Baseband Energy Consumption vs. Symbol Detection Performance
In massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems using a large number of antennas, it would be difficult to connect high-resolution analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) to each antenna component due to high cost and energy consumption problems. To resolve these issues, there has been much work on implementing symbol detectors and channel estimators using low-resolution ADCs for massive MIMO systems. Although it is intuitively true that using low-resolution ADCs makes it possible to save a large amount of energy consumption in massive MIMO systems, the relationship between energy consumption using low-resolution ADCs and detection performance has not been properly analyzed yet. In this paper, the tradeoff between different detectors and total baseband energy consumption including flexible ADCs is thoroughly analyzed taking the optimal fixed-point operations performed during the detection processes into account. In order to minimize the energy consumption for the given channel condition, the proposed scheme selects the best mode among various processing options while supporting the target frame error rate. The numerous case studies reveal that the proposed work remarkably saves the energy consumption of the massive MIMO processing compared with the existing schemes.11Ysciescopu
Fast matrix inversion updates for massive MIMO detection and precoding
In this letter, methods and corresponding complexities for fast matrix inversion updates in the context of massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) are studied. In particular, we propose an on-the-fly method to recompute the zero forcing (ZF) filter when a user is added or removed from the system. Additionally, we evaluate the recalculation of the inverse matrix after a new channel estimation is obtained for a given user. Results are evaluated numerically in terms of bit error rate (BER) using the Neumann series approximation as the initial inverse matrix. It is concluded that, with fewer operations, the performance after an update remains close to the initial one.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio
Decentralized Massive MIMO Processing Exploring Daisy-chain Architecture and Recursive Algorithms
Algorithms for Massive MIMO uplink detection and downlink precoding typically
rely on a centralized approach, by which baseband data from all antenna modules
are routed to a central node in order to be processed. In the case of Massive
MIMO, where hundreds or thousands of antennas are expected in the base-station,
said routing becomes a bottleneck since interconnection throughput is limited.
This paper presents a fully decentralized architecture and an algorithm for
Massive MIMO uplink detection and downlink precoding based on the Stochastic
Gradient Descent (SGD) method, which does not require a central node for these
tasks. Through a recursive approach and very low complexity operations, the
proposed algorithm provides a good trade-off between performance,
interconnection throughput and latency. Further, our proposed solution achieves
significantly lower interconnection data-rate than other architectures,
enabling future scalability.Comment: Manuscript accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Signal
Processin
A tutorial on the characterisation and modelling of low layer functional splits for flexible radio access networks in 5G and beyond
The centralization of baseband (BB) functions in a radio access network (RAN) towards data processing centres is receiving increasing interest as it enables the exploitation of resource pooling and statistical multiplexing gains among multiple cells, facilitates the introduction of collaborative techniques for different functions (e.g., interference coordination), and more efficiently handles the complex requirements of advanced features of the fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) physical layer, such as the use of massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO). However, deciding the functional split (i.e., which BB functions are kept close to the radio units and which BB functions are centralized) embraces a trade-off between the centralization benefits and the fronthaul costs for carrying data between distributed antennas and data processing centres. Substantial research efforts have been made in standardization fora, research projects and studies to resolve this trade-off, which becomes more complicated when the choice of functional splits is dynamically achieved depending on the current conditions in the RAN. This paper presents a comprehensive tutorial on the characterisation, modelling and assessment of functional splits in a flexible RAN to establish a solid basis for the future development of algorithmic solutions of dynamic functional split optimisation in 5G and beyond systems. First, the paper explores the functional split approaches considered by different industrial fora, analysing their equivalences and differences in terminology. Second, the paper presents a harmonized analysis of the different BB functions at the physical layer and associated algorithmic solutions presented in the literature, assessing both the computational complexity and the associated performance. Based on this analysis, the paper presents a model for assessing the computational requirements and fronthaul bandwidth requirements of different functional splits. Last, the model is used to derive illustrative results that identify the major trade-offs that arise when selecting a functional split and the key elements that impact the requirements.This work has been partially funded by Huawei Technologies. Work by X. Gelabert and B. Klaiqi is partially funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme (HORIZON-MSCA-2021-DN-0) under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101073265. Work by J. Perez-Romero and O. Sallent is also partially funded by the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) under the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under Grant Agreements No. 101096034 (VERGE project) and No. 101097083 (BeGREEN project) and by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 under ARTIST project (ref. PID2020-115104RB-I00). This last project has also funded the work by D. Campoy.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft
Multi-User Holographic MIMO Surfaces: Channel Modeling and Spectral Efficiency Analysis
The multi-user Holographic Multiple-Input and Multiple-Output Surface
(MU-HMIMOS) paradigm, which is capable of realizing large continuous apertures
with minimal power consumption, has been recently considered as an
energyefficient solution for future wireless networks, offering increased
flexibility in impacting electromagnetic (EM) wave propagation according to the
desired communication, localization, and sensing objectives. The tractable
channel modeling in MU-HMIMOS wireless systems is one of the most critical
research challenges, mainly due to the coupling effect induced by the
excessively large number of closely spaced patch antennas. In this paper, we
focus on this challenge for the downlink of multi-user MIMO communications and
extend an EM-compliant channel model to multiuser case, which is expressed in
the wavenumber domain using the Fourier plane wave approximation. Based on the
presented channel model, we investigate the spectral efficiency of maximumratio
transmission and Zero-Forcing (ZF) precoding schemes. We also introduce a novel
hardware efficient ZF precoder, leveraging Neumann series (NS) expansion to
replace the required matrix inversion operation, which is very hard to be
computed in the conventional way due to the extremely large number of patch
antennas in the envisioned MU-HMIMOS communication systems. In comparison with
the conventional independent and identical Rayleigh fading channels that ignore
antenna coupling effects, the proposed EM-compliant channel model captures the
mutual couplings induced by the very small antenna spacing. Our extensive
performance evaluation results demonstrate that our theoretical performance
expressions approximate sufficiently well ..