Performance analysis and precoder design for IRS-assisted MIMO system with non-linear power amplifiers

Abstract

In this work, a point-to-point intelligent-reflecting-surface (IRS) assisted single input single output (SISO) model is first developed and later modified to the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) case. For the SISO case, the transmitter or the access point (AP) is assumed to be equipped with a non-linear memory-less power amplifier (PA). A PA is assumed to be present for each data stream at the AP or base station (BS) side for the MIMO case. For both cases, three different types of PAs (A) Soft envelope limiter (SEL), (B) Solid-state power amplifier (SSPA), and (C) Travelling wave tube amplifier (TWTA) are considered. A Bussgang decomposition of the transmitted signal is then utilized for further analysis. A modified channel model is conceived for the AP-IRS-User equipment (UE) link based on the reflecting IRS elements’ radar cross-section (RCS). For the SISO system, both perfect and imperfect geometries of IRS elements with uniformly distributed element size errors are considered. An approximate closed-form expression for the upper bound on the above system’s spectral efficiency (SE) with ideal IRS elements is derived. The expression of the SE for two special cases of (A) Infinitely large IRS and (B) Ideal PA is deduced. Approximate closed-form expressions of various quality parameters for the IRS-assisted MIMO system with ideal and non-ideal PAs are also derived and verified numerically. Maximum ratio transmission (MRT) based precoder for this system is designed assuming that the information about the BS-UE link, BS-IRS-UE link, and the non-linear PA statistics is available at the BS. A closed-form expression for the SE of this system with this precoder is then derived and verified for various parametric situations.