Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) is now making its way to the
standardization exercise of future 5G networks. Yet, there are still
fundamental questions pertaining to the robustness of massive MIMO against
physically detrimental propagation conditions. On these grounds, we identify
scenarios under which massive MIMO can potentially fail in Ricean channels, and
characterize them physically, as well as, mathematically. Our analysis extends
and generalizes a stream of recent papers on this topic and articulates
emphatically that such harmful scenarios in Ricean fading conditions are
unlikely and can be compensated using any standard scheduling scheme. This
implies that massive MIMO is intrinsically effective at combating interuser
interference and, if needed, can avail of the base-station scheduler for
further robustness.Comment: IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, accepte
