Data-Aided Channel Estimation and Combining for Cell-Free Massive MIMO With Low-Resolution ADCs | IEEE Journals & Magazine | IEEE Xplore

Data-Aided Channel Estimation and Combining for Cell-Free Massive MIMO With Low-Resolution ADCs


Abstract:

This letter aims to alleviate the impact of pilot contamination stemming from sharing pilots in cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) networks with low-...Show More

Abstract:

This letter aims to alleviate the impact of pilot contamination stemming from sharing pilots in cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) networks with low-resolution analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). Toward this goal, we treat the decided data symbols as additional pilots and develop a data-aided channel estimator to enhance the performance of channel estimation and data detection. Furthermore, by exploiting the statistical characteristic of the estimated channel state information (CSI), we derive the analytical achievable uplink spectral efficiency (SE) for minimum mean-squared error (MMSE) combining. Numerical results show that, in comparison with the pilot-based channel estimators, the data-aided one can obtain more accurate CSI and in turn facilitate the data detection.
Published in: IEEE Communications Letters ( Volume: 28, Issue: 3, March 2024)
Page(s): 642 - 646
Date of Publication: 22 January 2024

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I. Introduction

Cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) has emerged as a cornerstone of the sixth generation (6G) mobile communication systems [1]. However, it suffers from high power consumption, caused by a tremendous amount of high-resolution analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). To address this issue, one prospective solution is reducing the resolution of ADCs, which has been validated in conventional massive MIMO systems [2], [3], [4]. Along this line, considering cell-free networks, many studies have investigated the performance analysis and optimization for uplink maximum ratio combining (MRC) and minimum mean-squared error (MMSE)-based combiners [5], [6].

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