Channel reconstruction for mmWave Massive MIMO systems based on Channel Path Map

Abstract

For the needs of high data rate and massive device access in current fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication networks and future sixth-generation (6G) mobile communication networks, Millimeter-Wave (mmWave) Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) is a crucial technical support. However, the conventional pilot based channel estimation methods are exceedingly time-consuming and substantially degrade system performance when the number of users or antennas is high. This paper proposes a Path Clustering based Channel Reconstruction (PCCR) scheme for channel reconstruction in order to solve this issue. By leveraging channel information (such as angle of arrival, angle of departure, and path gain) at a number of geographical locations that are recorded in the Channel Path Map (CPM), we aim to reconstruct the mmWave channel of any locations of interests. To be specific, the CPM is used to extract the neighborhood propagation path data, and an autonomous determination algorithm is used to find the number of path clusters at the location of interest. The recorded propagation path information is processed by the Equivalent Base Station (EBS) scheme, and the path clustering is accomplished by using the AGglomerative NESting (AGENS) algorithm. In each path cluster, Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) algorithm is developed to forecast the path information at the user location. With all path information at user location are forecast, the channel can be reconstructed. The anticipated overhead is substantially lower than that of conventional methods because the computational cost of the procedure only depends on the total number of paths at the nearby locations. Ray-tracing based simulations are carried out to demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm. The results show that, when applied to a CPM with a spatial location precision of 5 m, the Normalized Mean Squared Error (NMSE) of the proposed algorithm is nearly identical to that of Linear Minimum Mean Square Error (LMMSE) estimation. The actual achievable date rate can match the needs of upcoming wireless communications and is superior over the conventional LMMSE.