3D MIMO Channel Research Articles

A Theoretical Analysis of Favorable Propagation on Massive MIMO Channels with Generalized Angle Distributions

Massive MIMO obtains the multiuser performance gain based on the favorable propagation (FP) assumption, defined as the mutual orthogonality of different users’ channel vectors. Until now, most of the theoretical analyses of FP are based on uniform angular distributions and only consider the horizontal dimension. However, the real propagation channel contains full dimensions, and the spatial angle varies with the environment. Thus, it remains unknown whether the FP condition holds in real deployment scenarios and how it impacts the massive MIMO system performance. In this paper, we analyze the FP condition theoretically based on a cluster-based three-dimensional (3D) MIMO channel with generalized angle distributions. Firstly, the FP condition’s unified mathematical expectation and variance expressions with full-dimensional angular integral are given. Since the closed-form expressions are hard to derive, we decompose generalized angle distributions, i.e., wrapped Gaussian (WG), Von Mises (VM), and truncated Laplacian (TL) into the functions of Bessel and Cosine basis by introducing Jacobi-Anger expansions and Fourier series. Thus the closed-form expressions of the FP condition are derived. Based on the above, we theoretically analyze the asymptotically FP condition under generalized angle distributions and then compare the impact of angular spreads on the FP performance. Furtherly, the FP condition is also investigated by numerical simulations and practical measurements. It is observed that environments with larger angle spreads and larger antenna spacing are more likely to realize FP. This paper provides valuable insights for the theoretical analysis of the practical application of massive MIMO systems.

A 3D MIMO Channel Model for a High-Speed Train Millimeter Wave Communication System under Cutting and Viaduct Environments

Incorporating MIMO technology with 3D geometry-based stochastic models (GBSM) is a promising channel modeling technique for 5G and beyond. These models could be extended to high-speed train (HST) environments at mmWave bands. In this paper, the proposed 3D MIMO model is composed of the line of sight component (LOS), the non-line of sight component (NLOS) from one sphere, and multiple stochastic confocal elliptic cylinders. The model is applied in the viaduct and cutting environments with a time-varying Rician K-factor. The local channel statistical properties such as the auto correlation function, stationarity distance, and the level crossing rate (LCR) are derived and thoroughly investigated at the 41GHz frequency. These properties are compared with the corresponding measured results at the same wave frequency for an HST wireless channel. There is a strong correlation between the results from the derived model and the measured results. Therefore, this model can be extended to be used for viaduct and cutting channel modeling at the mmWave band.

Low complexity channel estimation algorithm using paired spatial signatures for UAV 3D MIMO systems

This paper proposes a low complexity channel estimation algorithm for unmanned aerial vehicle three dimension multi-user multiple-input-multiple-output (3D MIMO) systems with the uniform planar array (UPA) at base station using paired spatial signatures. With the aid of antenna array theory and array signal processing, 3D channel is firstly modeled based on the angles between the direction of arrival along x- and y-axis of the UPA. And 3D MIMO channels can be projected onto the x- and y-directions, respectively. Then, channel estimation for multi-user uplinks using small amount of training resources is divided into two phases. At the first uplink preamble phase, each user is assigned the orthogonal pilot, and the paired spatial signatures and optimal rotation angle of each user through the same pilot sequence are obtained. We also propose a user grouping strategy based on three-dimension angle-division multiple access (3D-ADMA) to ensure that the user's spatial signatures do not overlap. At the second phase during several coherence times, the same pilot sequence within a group and orthogonal pilot sequences between groups are assigned, then, the channel state information of the user's x- and y-directions are recovered by the paired space signatures and optimal rotation angle of each user obtained in the preamble phase, respectively. And dynamically updating the user's paired spatial signatures and optimal rotation angle utilizes the obtained channel parameter of x- and y-directions. Finally, the channel parameter of the x- and y-directions are reconstructed by the updated user's space signatures and the optimal rotation angle, and the 3D MIMO channel estimation is obtained through the Kronecker product. Compared with the conventional channel estimation method of the 3D MIMO system under UPA using a low-rank model, the proposed methods reduce the computational complexity without degrading the estimated performance to a large extent. Furthermore, it is carried out with limited training resources, and the pilot resource overhead of the system is greatly reduced by the 3D-ADMA packet and the two-stage pilot allocation. Simulation results verified that the proposed algorithm is effective and feasible.

Analytical Nonstationary 3D MIMO Channel Model for Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication on Slope

Vehicle-to-vehicle communication plays a strong role in modern wireless communication systems, appropriate channel models are of great importance in future research, and propagation environment with slope is one special kind. In this study, a novel three-dimensional nonstationary multiple-input multiple-output channel model for the sub-6 GHz band is proposed. This model is a regular-shaped multicluster geometry-based analytical model, and it combines the line-of-sight component and multicluster scattering rays as the nonline-of-sight components. Each cluster of scatterers represents the influence of different moving vehicles on or near a slope, and scatterers are, respectively, distributed within two spheres around the transmitter and the receiver. In this model, it is considered that the azimuth and elevation angles of departure and arrival are jointly distributed and conform to the von Mises–Fisher distribution, which can easily control the range and concentration of the scatterers within spheres to mimic the real-world situation well. Moreover, the impulse response and the autocorrelation function of the corresponding channel is derived and proposed; then, the Doppler power spectrum density of the channel is simulated and analyzed. In addition, the nonstationary characteristics of the presented channel model are observed through simulations. Finally, the simulation results are compared with measurement data in order to validate the utility of the proposed model.

Channel estimation for 3D MIMO system based on LOS/NLOS identification

Channel estimation is one of the most important parts in three-dimensional multiple-input multiple-output (3D MIMO) systems. The characteristics of non-line-of-sight (NLOS) channel and line-of-sight (LOS) channel are different in 3D MIMO systems. If the same channel estimation scheme is used in LOS case as NLOS, the performance of estimation will be bad. In outdoor propagation environment, 3D MIMO channels between closely located antennas share the same delay support in temporal domain. With those prior knowledge, in this study, a new channel estimation scheme is proposed. The proposed scheme can be divided into two processes. First, it is needed to identify the received sounding reference signal whether is LOS or NLOS propagation. Then, different enhanced DFT-based channel estimation schemes are proposed separately according to the identification results. Simulation results verify the proposed algorithm outperforms traditional discrete Fourier transform (DFT)-based channel estimation. At signal-to-noise ratio of 20 dB, the proposed algorithm has 17.7 and 35.7% improvement in NLOS case and LOS case separately in terms of normalised mean squared error compared with traditional DFT-based channel estimation scheme, and is achieved with additional liner complexity.

Low‐complexity user selection method in 3D MU‐MIMO systems

The user selection method based on chordal distance is widely used in multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) systems with block diagonalisation. It has throughput close to the capacity based method with low complexity. In this Letter, a user selection method with higher throughput and much lower complexity is proposed. To investigate the performance in a more practical channel scenario, 3D MIMO channels are used in simulations. Compared with existing user selection algorithms, the proposed method achieves good throughput performance and the lowest complexity order.

Alternative direction for 3D orthogonal frequency division multiplexing massive MIMO FDD channel estimation and feedback

In this study, downlink channel estimation of three-dimensional massive multiple-input multiple-output (3D-MIMO) system operating in the frequency division duplexing (FDD) mode is considered. Inspired by the channel sparsity property, this study proposes a compressive sensing algorithm to exploit the channel sparsity structure in the angle-time domain. The proposed algorithm, named AMP-ADM, combines the multiple approximate message passing (M-AMP) algorithm with the alternative direction of multiplier (ADM) technique to efficiently exploit the sparsity structure of the 3D massive MIMO channel. First, the proposed AMP-ADM is implemented in the case of the conventional estimation for the FDD protocol where the channel is estimated individually at each user equipment. Then, building on this algorithm, a low complexity feedback AMP-ADM-T scheme at the transmitting base station (BS) side is proposed. In the proposed feedback AMP-ADM-T technique the users' channels are jointly estimated at the BS to fully exploit the common sparsity basis. Complexity and convergence analyses are provided for both the AMP-ADM and feedback AMP-ADM-T algorithms. Simulation results prove the improved performance of the proposed feedback AMP-ADM-T algorithm compared to different state-of-the-art joint channel estimation techniques.

Optimization of Three-Dimensional MIMO System with Vertical User Distribution

MIMO is one of the key technologies to achieve the high speeds and to serve the multimedia applications with high quality. Currently, the Telecom industry is using the two dimensional MIMO modeling techniques. This modeling is not sufficient if the distance between user terminal and base station is small. Hence, 3D model is required to optimize the efficiency of the system. A little research work is done in 3D MIMO channel modeling but variations in elevation angles were ignored. In the practical scenarios like huge crowd in multi floor buildings and uneven distribution of users will reduce the performance of MIMO in terms of SNR and gain. In these scenarios, one should also consider the elevation variations in channel modeling. In this paper, we proposed 3D MIMO system by considering vertical user distribution and defined new expression for sum rate. Sum rate performance was analyzed for multi stored building and an optimized MIMO system was proposed. This work is very useful to get the high quality services in metro areas.

3D MIMO for 5G NR: Several Observations from 32 to Massive 256 Antennas Based on Channel Measurement

By placing active antennas in a 2D grid at a BS, 3D MIMO is considered as a promising and practical technique for 5G New Radio (NR). So far, 3D MIMO studies reported are mostly done with antenna elements from 32 up to 128 in the limited scenario at one frequency. To gain further insights into the 3D massive MIMO channel and performance, field measurements from 32 to 256 antenna elements at the transmitter and 16 antenna elements at the receiver are performed in three typical deployment scenarios, including outdoor to indoor, urban microcell, and urban macrocell at both 3.5 and 6 GHz frequencies with 200 MHz bandwidth. Based on the extracted channel information from measured data, power angle spectrum, root mean square angle spread, channel capacity, and eigenvalue spread have been studied. Several observations, including 3D MIMO channel spatial dispersive properties and multi-user performance varying with antenna number, scenario, and frequency are given. These findings can provide valuable experimental insights for efficient utilization of 3D MIMO with massive antenna elements.

The Impact of Antenna Height on 3D Channel: A Ray Launching Based Analysis

Three-dimensional (3D) multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) is one of the enabling technologies for next-generation mobile communication. As the elevation angle in the 3D MIMO channel model might vary against the height of the base station (BS) antenna, it should be considered within channel modeling. In this paper, the impact of antenna height on the channel characteristics of the 3D MIMO channel is investigated by using the intelligent ray launching algorithm (IRLA). Three typical street scenarios, i.e., the straight street, the forked road, and the crossroad, are selected as benchmarks. The joint and marginal probability density functions (PDFs) of both the elevation angle of departure (EAoD) and the elevation angle of arrival (EAoA) are obtained through simulations. Moreover, the elevation angle spread (AS) and the elevation delay spread (DS) under various antenna heights are jointly discussed. Simulation results show that the characteristics of the PDFs of EAoD will vary under different street scenarios. It is observed that in order to obtain the maximum or minimum value of the AS and the DS, the BS antenna should be deployed at half of the building height.