Linear Receive Beamforming for CAPA Systems

The performance of linear receive beamforming in continuous-aperture array (CAPA)-based uplink communications is analyzed. Three continuous beamforming techniques are proposed under the criteria of maximum-ratio combining (MRC), zero-forcing (ZF), and minimum mean-squared error (MMSE). i) For MRC beamforming, a closed-form expression for the beamformer is derived to maximize per-user signal power. The achieved uplink rate and mean-squared error (MSE) in detecting received data symbols are analyzed. ii) For ZF beamforming, a closed-form beamformer is derived based on channel correlation to eliminate interference. As a further advance, its optimality in maximizing effective channel gain while ensuring zero inter-user interference is proven. iii) MMSE beamforming is established as the optimal linear receive approach for CAPAs in terms of maximizing per-user rate and minimizing MSE. Closed-form expressions are derived for the MMSE beamformer and the achievable sum-rate and sum-MSE. It is mathematically proven that all proposed beamformers lie within the signal subspace spanned by users’ spatial responses. Numerical results demonstrate that CAPAs outperform conventional spatially-discrete arrays (SPDAs) by achieving higher sum-rates and lower sum- MSEs under the proposed linear beamforming techniques.