Quantization and Feedback of Spatial Covariance Matrix for Massive MIMO Systems With Cascaded Precoding

In this paper, we investigate the quantization and the feedback of downlink spatial covariance matrix for massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems with cascaded precoding. Massive MIMO has gained a lot of attention recently because of its ability to significantly improve the network performance. To reduce the overhead of downlink channel estimation and uplink feedback in frequency-division duplex massive MIMO systems, cascaded precoding has been used to convert high-dimensional physical channels into low-dimensional effective channels. For the cascaded precoding, the inner precoder is determined by the downlink spatial covariance matrix, which is unknown in the base station (BS). To address this issue, we propose a spatial spectrum-based approach for the quantization and the feedback of the spatial covariance matrix. In this manner, the BS can obtain partial information on the downlink spatial covariance matrix. Our result shows that the inner precoder based on the proposed approach can be viewed as modulated discrete prolate spheroidal sequences and thus achieves much smaller spatial leakage than the traditional discrete Fourier transform submatrix-based precoding. Practical issues for the application of the proposed approach are also addressed in this paper.