Full downlink channel reconstruction using incomplete uplink channel measurements in massive MIMO networks

While more and more antennas are integrated into a single mobile user equipment to increase communication quality and throughput, the number of antennas used for transmission is commonly restricted due to the concerns on hardware complexity and energy consumption, making it impossible to achieve the maximum channel capacity. This paper investigates the problem of reconstructing the full downlink channel from incomplete uplink channel measurements in Massive MIMO systems. We present ARDI, a scheme that builds a bridge between radio channel and physical signal propagation environment to link spatial information about the non-transmitting antennas with their radio channels. By inferring locations and orientations of the non-transmitting antennas from an incomplete set of uplink channels, ARDI can reconstruct the downlink channels for non-transmitting antennas. We derive closed-form solution to reconstruct antenna orientation in both single-path and multipath propagation environments. The performance of ARDI is evaluated using simulations with realistic human movement. The results demonstrate that ARDI is capable of accurately reconstructing full downlink channels when the signal-to-noise ratio is higher than 15dB, thereby expanding the channel capacity of Massive MIMO networks.