Distributed multi-user MIMO transmission using real-time sigma-delta-over-fiber for next generation fronthaul interface

To achieve the massive device connectivity and high data rate demanded by 5G, wireless transmission with wider signal bandwidths and higher-order multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) is inevitable. This work demonstrates a possible function split option for the next generation fronthaul interface (NGFI). The proof-of-concept downlink architecture consists of real-time sigma-delta modulated signal over fiber (SDoF) links in combination with distributed multi-user (MU) MIMO transmission. The setup is fully implemented using off-the-shelf and in-house developed components. A single SDoF link achieves an error vector magnitude (EVM) of 3.14% for a 163.84 MHz-bandwidth 256-QAM OFDM signal (958.64 Mbps) with a carrier frequency around 3.5 GHz transmitted over 100 m OM4 multi-mode fiber at 850 nm using a commercial QSFP module. The centralized architecture of the proposed setup introduces no frequency asynchronism among remote radio units. For most cases, the 2 x 2 MU-MIMO transmission has little performance degradation compared to SISO, 0.8 dB EVM degradation for 40.96 MHz-bandwidth signals and 1.4 dB for 163.84 MHz-bandwidth on average, implying that the wireless spectral efficiency almost doubles by exploiting spatial multiplexing. A 1.4 Gbps data rate (720 Mbps per user, 163.84 MHz-bandwidth, 64-QAM) is reached with an average EVM of 6.66%. The performance shows that this approach is feasible for the high-capacity hot-spot scenario

AirSync: Enabling Distributed Multiuser MIMO with Full Spatial Multiplexing

The enormous success of advanced wireless devices is pushing the demand for higher wireless data rates. Denser spectrum reuse through the deployment of more access points per square mile has the potential to successfully meet the increasing demand for more bandwidth. In theory, the best approach to density increase is via distributed multiuser MIMO, where several access points are connected to a central server and operate as a large distributed multi-antenna access point, ensuring that all transmitted signal power serves the purpose of data transmission, rather than creating "interference." In practice, while enterprise networks offer a natural setup in which distributed MIMO might be possible, there are serious implementation difficulties, the primary one being the need to eliminate phase and timing offsets between the jointly coordinated access points. In this paper we propose AirSync, a novel scheme which provides not only time but also phase synchronization, thus enabling distributed MIMO with full spatial multiplexing gains. AirSync locks the phase of all access points using a common reference broadcasted over the air in conjunction with a Kalman filter which closely tracks the phase drift. We have implemented AirSync as a digital circuit in the FPGA of the WARP radio platform. Our experimental testbed, comprised of two access points and two clients, shows that AirSync is able to achieve phase synchronization within a few degrees, and allows the system to nearly achieve the theoretical optimal multiplexing gain. We also discuss MAC and higher layer aspects of a practical deployment. To the best of our knowledge, AirSync offers the first ever realization of the full multiuser MIMO gain, namely the ability to increase the number of wireless clients linearly with the number of jointly coordinated access points, without reducing the per client rate.Comment: Submitted to Transactions on Networkin