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

Multi-Array 5G V2V Relative Positioning: Performance Bounds

We study the performance bounds of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) relative positioning for vehicles with multiple antenna arrays. The Cram\'{e}r-Rao bound for the estimation of the relative position and the orientation of the Tx vehicle is derived, when angle of arrival (AOA) measurements with or without time-difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements are used. In addition, geometrically intuitive expressions for the corresponding Fisher information are provided. The derived bounds are numerically evaluated for different carrier frequencies, bandwidths and array configurations under different V2V scenarios, i.e. overtaking and platooning. The significance of the AOA and TDOA measurements for position estimation is investigated. The achievable positioning accuracy is then compared with the present requirements of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) 5G New Radio (NR) vehicle-to-everything (V2X) standardization

Position and Orientation Estimation through Millimeter Wave MIMO in 5G Systems

Millimeter wave signals and large antenna arrays are considered enabling technologies for future 5G networks. While their benefits for achieving high-data rate communications are well-known, their potential advantages for accurate positioning are largely undiscovered. We derive the Cram\'{e}r-Rao bound (CRB) on position and rotation angle estimation uncertainty from millimeter wave signals from a single transmitter, in the presence of scatterers. We also present a novel two-stage algorithm for position and rotation angle estimation that attains the CRB for average to high signal-to-noise ratio. The algorithm is based on multiple measurement vectors matching pursuit for coarse estimation, followed by a refinement stage based on the space-alternating generalized expectation maximization algorithm. We find that accurate position and rotation angle estimation is possible using signals from a single transmitter, in either line-of- sight, non-line-of-sight, or obstructed-line-of-sight conditions.Comment: The manuscript has been revised, and increased from 27 to 31 pages. Also, Fig.2, Fig. 10 and Table I are adde

Wireless Localization for mmWave Networks in Urban Environments

Millimeter wave (mmWave) technology is expected to be a major component of 5G wireless networks. Ultra-wide bandwidths of mmWave signals and the possibility of utilizing large number of antennas at the transmitter and the receiver allow accurate identification of multipath components in temporal and angular domains, making mmWave systems advantageous for localization applications. In this paper, we analyze the performance of a two-step mmWave localization approach that can utilize time-of-arrival, angle-of-arrival, and angle-of-departure from multiple nodes in an urban environment with both line-of-sight (LOS) and non-LOS (NLOS) links. Networks with/without radio-environmental mapping (REM) are considered, where a network with REM is able to localize nearby scatterers. Estimation of a UE location is challenging due to large numbers of local optima in the likelihood function. To address this problem, a gradient-assisted particle filter (GAPF) estimator is proposed to accurately estimate a user equipment (UE) location as well as the locations of nearby scatterers. Monte Carlo simulations show that the GAPF estimator performance matches the Cramer-Rao bound (CRB). The estimator is also used to create an REM. It is seen that significant localization gains can be achieved by increasing beam directionality or by utilizing REM

5G mmwave positioning for vehicular networks

5G technologies present a new paradigm to provide connectivity to vehicles, in support of high data-rate services, complementing existing inter-vehicle communication standards based on IEEE 802.11p. As we argue, the specific signal characteristics of 5G communication turn out to be highly conducive for vehicle positioning. Hence, 5G can work in synergy with existing on-vehicle positioning and mapping systems to provide redundancy for certain applications, in particular automated driving. This article provides an overview of the evolution of cellular positioning and discusses the key properties of 5G as they relate to vehicular positioning. Open research challenges are presented