Cluster-Group-Based Two-Stage Beamforming for Massive MIMO

In frequency division duplex (FDD) massive multi-input multi-output (MIMO), the two-stage beamforming (TSB) using channel covariance matrices significantly reduces the downlink training length (DTL) and channel feedback. Nevertheless, most of the TSB methods focus on the one-ring channel. In this paper, we consider the multiple scatterer clusters (MSC) channel in massive MIMO systems and propose a TSB method based on cluster group. To reduce the channel state information (CSI) feedback, for each cluster we use a cluster-group-based eigen-prebeamformer to sparsify the effective channel matrix. The DTL is also reduced by a graph-based downlink training design. We further develop a multi-user beamformer to mitigate the inter-user interference. To further reduce the DTL, two other methods are also proposed based on the vertex and edge deletion. Simulation results confirm the efficiency of the proposed schemes in improving the effective spectral efficiency.