CAnet: Uplink-Aided Downlink Channel Acquisition in FDD Massive MIMO Using Deep Learning

In frequency-division duplexing systems, the downlink channel state information (CSI) acquisition scheme leads to high training and feedback overhead. In this work, we propose an uplink-aided downlink channel acquisition framework using deep learning to reduce such overhead. We consider the entire downlink CSI acquisition process, including the downlink pilot design, channel estimation, and feedback. First, we propose an adaptive pilot design module by exploiting the correlation in magnitude among bidirectional channels in the angular domain to improve channel estimation. Second, to avoid the bit allocation problem during the feedback module, we concatenate the complex channel and embed the uplink channel magnitude to the channel reconstruction at the base station. Finally, we combine the two modules and compare two popular uplink-aided downlink channel acquisition frameworks. One framework estimates and subsequently feeds back the channel at the user equipment. In the other framework, the user equipment directly feeds back the received pilot signals to the base station. Results reveal that with the help of the uplink channel, directly feeding back pilot signals can save approximately 20% of feedback bits. This work thus provides a guideline for future research.