Massive MIMO Systems with Non-Ideal Hardware: Energy Efficiency, Estimation, and Capacity Limits

The use of large-scale antenna arrays can bring substantial improvements in energy and/or spectral efficiency to wireless systems due to the greatly improved spatial resolution and array gain. Recent works in the field of massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) show that the user channels decorrelate when the number of antennas at the base stations (BSs) increases, thus strong signal gains are achievable with little inter-user interference. Since these results rely on asymptotics, it is important to investigate whether the conventional system models are reasonable in this asymptotic regime. This paper considers a new system model that incorporates general transceiver hardware impairments at both the BSs (equipped with large antenna arrays) and the single-antenna user equipments (UEs). As opposed to the conventional case of ideal hardware, we show that hardware impairments create finite ceilings on the channel estimation accuracy and on the downlink/uplink capacity of each UE. Surprisingly, the capacity is mainly limited by the hardware at the UE, while the impact of impairments in the large-scale arrays vanishes asymptotically and inter-user interference (in particular, pilot contamination) becomes negligible. Furthermore, we prove that the huge degrees of freedom offered by massive MIMO can be used to reduce the transmit power and/or to tolerate larger hardware impairments, which allows for the use of inexpensive and energy-efficient antenna elements.Comment: To appear in IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 28 pages, 15 figures. The results can be reproduced using the following Matlab code: https://github.com/emilbjornson/massive-MIMO-hardware-impairment

Robust Transceiver Design for AF MIMO Relay Systems with Column Correlations

In this paper, we investigate the robust transceiver design for dual-hop amplify-and-forward (AF) MIMO relay systems with Gaussian distributed channel estimation errors. Aiming at maximizing the mutual information under imperfect channel state information (CSI), source precoder at source and forwarding matrix at the relay are jointly optimized. Using some elegant attributes of matrix-monotone functions, the structures of the optimal solutions are derived first. Then based on the derived structure an iterative waterfilling solution is proposed. Several existing algorithms are shown to be special cases of the proposed solution. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed robust design is demonstrated by simulation results.Comment: 6 Pages, 1 Figur

Robust joint design of linear relay precoder and destination equalizer for dual-hop amplify-and-forward MIMO relay systems

This paper addresses the problem of robust linear relay precoder and destination equalizer design for a dual-hop amplify-and-forward (AF) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) relay system, with Gaussian random channel uncertainties in both hops. By taking the channel uncertainties into account, two robust design algorithms are proposed to minimize the mean-square error (MSE) of the output signal at the destination. One is an iterative algorithm with its convergence proved analytically. The other is an approximated closed-form solution with much lower complexity than the iterative algorithm. Although the closed-form solution involves a minor relaxation for the general case, when the column covariance matrix of the channel estimation error at the second hop is proportional to identity matrix, no relaxation is needed and the proposed closed-form solution is the optimal solution. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithms reduce the sensitivity of the AF MIMO relay systems to channel estimation errors, and perform better than the algorithm using estimated channels only. Furthermore, the closed-form solution provides a comparable performance to that of the iterative algorithm. © 2006 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

Robust Beamforming for Amplify-and-Forward MIMO Relay Systems Based on Quadratic Matrix Programming

In this paper, robust transceiver design based on minimum-mean-square-error (MMSE) criterion for dual-hop amplify-and-forward MIMO relay systems is investigated. The channel estimation errors are modeled as Gaussian random variables, and then the effect are incorporated into the robust transceiver based on the Bayesian framework. An iterative algorithm is proposed to jointly design the precoder at the source, the forward matrix at the relay and the equalizer at the destination, and the joint design problem can be efficiently solved by quadratic matrix programming (QMP).Comment: Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP'2010), U.S.

Joint robust weighted LMMSE transceiver design for dual-hop AF multiple-antenna relay systems

In this paper, joint transceiver design for dual-hop amplify-and-forward (AF) MIMO relay systems with Gaussian distributed channel estimation errors in both two hops is investigated. Due to the fact that various linear transceiver designs can be transformed to a weighted linear minimum mean-square-error (LMMSE) transceiver design with specific weighting matrices, weighted mean square error (MSE) is chosen as the performance metric. Precoder matrix at source, forwarding matrix at relay and equalizer matrix at destination are jointly designed with channel estimation errors taken care of by Bayesian philosophy. Several existing algorithms are found to be special cases of the proposed solution. The performance advantage of the proposed robust design is demonstrated by the simulation results. © 2011 IEEE.published_or_final_versionThe 2011 IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference (GLOBECOM 2011), Beijing, China, 5-9 December 2011. In Globecom. IEEE Conference and Exhibition, 2011, p. 1-

Matrix-Monotonic Optimization for MIMO Systems

For MIMO systems, due to the deployment of multiple antennas at both the transmitter and the receiver, the design variables e.g., precoders, equalizers, training sequences, etc. are usually matrices. It is well known that matrix operations are usually more complicated compared to their vector counterparts. In order to overcome the high complexity resulting from matrix variables, in this paper we investigate a class of elegant multi-objective optimization problems, namely matrix-monotonic optimization problems (MMOPs). In our work, various representative MIMO optimization problems are unified into a framework of matrix-monotonic optimization, which includes linear transceiver design, nonlinear transceiver design, training sequence design, radar waveform optimization, the corresponding robust design and so on as its special cases. Then exploiting the framework of matrix-monotonic optimization the optimal structures of the considered matrix variables can be derived first. Based on the optimal structure, the matrix-variate optimization problems can be greatly simplified into the ones with only vector variables. In particular, the dimension of the new vector variable is equal to the minimum number of columns and rows of the original matrix variable. Finally, we also extend our work to some more general cases with multiple matrix variables.Comment: 37 Pages, 5 figures, IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, Final Versio

Robust Transceiver with Tomlinson-Harashima Precoding for Amplify-and-Forward MIMO Relaying Systems

In this paper, robust transceiver design with Tomlinson-Harashima precoding (THP) for multi-hop amplify-and-forward (AF) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) relaying systems is investigated. At source node, THP is adopted to mitigate the spatial intersymbol interference. However, due to its nonlinear nature, THP is very sensitive to channel estimation errors. In order to reduce the effects of channel estimation errors, a joint Bayesian robust design of THP at source, linear forwarding matrices at relays and linear equalizer at destination is proposed. With novel applications of elegant characteristics of multiplicative convexity and matrix-monotone functions, the optimal structure of the nonlinear transceiver is first derived. Based on the derived structure, the transceiver design problem reduces to a much simpler one with only scalar variables which can be efficiently solved. Finally, the performance advantage of the proposed robust design over non-robust design is demonstrated by simulation results.Comment: IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications - Special Issue on Theories and Methods for Advanced Wireless Relays The final version and several typos have been correcte

Full-duplex MU-MIMO systems under the effects of non-ideal transceivers: performance analysis and power allocation optimization

Modern Technologies, particularly connectivity, increasingly support many facets of everyday life. The next generation of wireless communication systems aims to provide new advanced services and support new demands. These services are required to serve a massive number of devices and achieve higher spectral and energy efficiency, ultra-low latency, and reliable communication. The research community around the globe is still working on finding novel technologies to meet these requirements. Full duplex (FD) communications have been recognized as one of the promising wireless transmission candidates and gamechangers for the future of wireless communication and networking technologies, thanks to their ability to greatly improve spectral efficiency (SE) and dramatically enhance energy efficiency (EE). In this thesis, first, the influence of hardware impairment (HWI) on singleinput single-output (SISO) FD access point (AP) is studied. More precisely, the SE and EE when the system’s terminals have impaired transceivers are analyzed. Optimization problem for EE maximization is formulated to fulfill quality of service (QoS) and power budget constraints. An algorithm to solve the optimization problem by using the fractional programming theory and Karush–Kuhn–Tucker (KKT) conditions technique is proposed. [...

Unified Joint Matrix-Monotonic Optimization of MIMO Training Sequences and Transceivers

Channel estimation and transmission constitute the most fundamental functional modules of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication systems. The underlying key tasks corresponding to these modules are training sequence optimization and transceiver optimization. Hence, we jointly optimize the linear transmit precoder and the training sequence of MIMO systems using the metrics of their effective mutual information (MI), effective mean squared error (MSE), effective weighted MI, effective weighted MSE, as well as their effective generic Schur-convex and Schur-concave functions. Both statistical channel state information (CSI) and estimated CSI are considered at the transmitter in the joint optimization. A unified framework termed as joint matrix-monotonic optimization is proposed. Based on this, the optimal precoder matrix and training matrix structures can be derived for both CSI scenarios. Then, based on the optimal matrix structures, our linear transceivers and their training sequences can be jointly optimized. Compared to state-of-the-art benchmark algorithms, the proposed algorithms visualize the bold explicit relationships between the attainable system performance of our linear transceivers conceived and their training sequences, leading to implementation ready recipes. Finally, several numerical results are provided, which corroborate our theoretical results and demonstrate the compelling benefits of our proposed pilot-aided MIMO solutions.Comment: 29 pages, 7 figure

Optimization of Massive Full-Dimensional MIMO for Positioning and Communication

Massive Full-Dimensional multiple-input multiple-output (FD-MIMO) base stations (BSs) have the potential to bring multiplexing and coverage gains by means of three-dimensional (3D) beamforming. Key technical challenges for their deployment include the presence of limited-resolution front ends and the acquisition of channel state information (CSI) at the BSs. This paper investigates the use of FD-MIMO BSs to provide simultaneously high-rate data communication and mobile 3D positioning in the downlink. The analysis concentrates on the problem of beamforming design by accounting for imperfect CSI acquisition via Time Division Duplex (TDD)-based training and for the finite resolution of analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) at the BSs. Both \textit{unstructured beamforming} and a low-complexity \textit{Kronecker beamforming} solution are considered, where for the latter the beamforming vectors are decomposed into separate azimuth and elevation components. The proposed algorithmic solutions are based on Bussgang theorem, rank-relaxation and successive convex approximation (SCA) methods. Comprehensive numerical results demonstrate that the proposed schemes can effectively cater to both data communication and positioning services, providing only minor performance degradations as compared to the more conventional cases in which either function is implemented. Moreover, the proposed low-complexity Kronecker beamforming solutions are seen to guarantee a limited performance loss in the presence of a large number of BS antennas.Comment: 30 pages, 6 figure