Search

In this paper, a downlink (DL) precoding scheme is introduced for time-division-duplex (TDD) multi-cell multi-user 3D massive MIMO/full-dimension MIMO (FD-MIMO) systems. A pre-beamformer based on uplink direction-of-arrival (DoA) is incorporated with interference alignment (IA) scheme to provide more degrees of freedom for each cell. We analyze the feasible conditions of applying IA schemes and provide the corresponding precoding schemes for different inter-cell interference scenarios. Simulation results show that the introduced IA-DoA-based multi-cell multi-user precoding and power allocation scheme significantly outperform the existing IA-based precoding strategies for FD-MIMO systems.

Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) offers tremendous spectrum and energy efficiency in wireless networks by adjusting the amplitudes and/or phases of passive reflecting elements to optimize signal reflection. With the agility and mobility of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), RIS can be mounted on UAVs to enable three-dimensional signal reflection. Compared to the conventional terrestrial RIS (TRIS), the aerial RIS (ARIS) enjoys higher deployment flexibility, reliable air-to-ground links, and panoramic full-angle reflection. However, due to UAV's limited payload and battery capacity, it is difficult for a UAV to carry a RIS with a large number of reflecting elements. Thus, the scalability of the aperture gain could not be guaranteed. In practice, multiple UAVs can form a UAV swarm to enable the ARIS cooperatively. In this article, we first present an overview of the UAV swarm-en-abled ARIS (SARIS), including its motivations and competitive advantages compared to TRIS and ARIS, as well as its new transformative applications in wireless networks. We then address the critical challenges of designing the SARIS by focusing on the beamforming design, SARIS channel estimation, and SARIS's deployment and movement. Next, the potential performance enhancement of SARIS is showcased and discussed with preliminary numerical results. Finally, open research opportunities are illustrated.

Scalable video coding (SVC) and video caching are two promising techniques in the 5th generation networks to improve the users’ quality of experience (QoE) in terms of video retrieval. In this paper, we study the video content retrieval in cache-aided device-to-device (D2D) networks, where each video content is coded into multiple layers via SVC. In video caching placement phase, the probabilistic caching placement policy is applied, while in content retrieval phase, the non-orthogonal transmission scheme is utilized. Besides, different D2D transmitter selection algorithms are considered and cache-aided data rate (CADR) is formulated as a metric in this paper, and it is maximized by jointly optimizing the probability caching policy and the power allocation policy in two phases. Analytical results show that probabilistic caching policy incorporated with power domain non-orthogonal transmission scheme can achieve significant benefits compared with other benchmark schemes.

Beamforming in multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems is one of the key technologies for modern wireless communication. Creating appropriate sector-specific broadcast beams are essential for enhancing the coverage of cellular network and for improving the broadcast operation for control signals. However, in order to maximize the coverage, patterns for broadcast beams need to be adapted based on the users’ distribution and movement over time. In this work, we present self-tuning sectorization: a deep reinforcement learning framework to optimize MIMO broadcast beams autonomously and dynamically based on users’ distribution in the network. Taking directly UE measurement results as input, deep reinforcement learning agent can track and predict the UE distribution pattern and come up with the best broadcast beams for each cell. Extensive simulation results show that the introduced framework can achieve the optimal coverage, and converge to the oracle solution for both single sector and multiple sectors environment, and for both periodic and Markov mobility patterns.

In this paper, superimposed pilot based communication strategies are investigated for a time-division duplex (TDD)-based massive Full-Dimension MIMO (FD-MIMO) network jointly considering both uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) performance. To be specific, the DL multi-cell multi-user MIMO operation is connected to UL channel estimation through the superimposed pilot. The performance of UL channel estimation is analytically characterized and the estimated UL channel is linked to the DL MIMO operation for the massive MIMO network. In this way, the corresponding feedback for DL channel state information (CSI) can be eliminated while the UL pilot overhead can be minimized. Results suggest that superimposed pilot could significantly improve the overall network performance of a massive FD-MIMO network.

Mobile network operators (MNOs) are in the process of overlaying their conventional macro cellular networks with shorter range cells such as outdoor pico cells. The resultant increase in network complexity creates substantial overhead in terms of operating expenses, time, and labor for their planning and management. Artificial intelligence (AI) offers the potential for MNOs to operate their networks in a more organic and cost-efficient manner. We argue that deploying AI in fifth generation (5G) and beyond will require surmounting significant technical barriers in terms of robustness, performance, and complexity. We outline future research directions, identify top five challenges, and present a possible roadmap to realize the vision of AI-enabled cellular networks for Beyond- 5G and sixth generation (6G) networks.

In this paper, downlink (DL) precoding and power allocation strategies are identified for a time-division-duplex (TDD) multi-cell multi-user massive Full-Dimension MIMO (FD-MIMO) network. Utilizing channel reciprocity, DL channel state information (CSI) feedback is eliminated and the DL multi-user MIMO precoding is linked to the uplink (UL) direction of arrival (DoA) estimation through estimation of signal parameters via rotational invariance technique (ESPRIT). Assuming non-orthogonal/non-ideal spreading sequences of the UL pilots, the performance of the UL DoA estimation is analytically characterized and the characterized DoA estimation error is incorporated into the corresponding DL precoding and power allocation strategy. Simulation results verify the accuracy of our analytical characterization of the DoA estimation and demonstrate that the introduced multi-user MIMO precoding and power allocation strategy outperforms existing zero-forcing based massive MIMO strategies., 32 pages, 8 figures, submitted to IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications

In order to meet the challenge of increasing data-rate demand as well as the form factor limitation of the base station (BS), 3-D massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology has been introduced as one of the enabling technologies for fifth generation mobile cellular systems. In 3-D massive MIMO systems, a BS will rely on the uplink sounding signals from mobile stations to figure out the spatial information for downlink MIMO operations. Accordingly, multi-dimensional parameter estimation of a MIMO channel becomes crucial for such systems to realize the predicted capacity gains. In this paper, we study the angle and delay estimation for 3-D massive MIMO systems under a parametric channel modeling. To be specific, we first introduce separate low complexity time delay and angle estimation algorithms based on unitary transformation, and analytically characterize the mean squared errors (MSEs) of these estimations for massive MIMO systems. Then, a matrix-based estimation of signal parameters via rotational invariance technique algorithm is applied to jointly estimate the delay and the angles where the MSEs are also analytically characterized. Our results show that the antenna array configuration at the BS plays a critical role in determining the underlying channel estimation performance. Simulation results suggest that the characterized MSEs match well with the simulated ones.

Mobile edge and vehicle-based depth sending and real-time point cloud communication is an essential subtask enabling autonomous driving. In this paper, we propose a framework for point cloud multicast in VANETs using vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) communication. We employ a scalable Binary Tree embedded Quad Tree (BTQT) point cloud source encoder with bitrate elasticity to match with an adaptive random network coding (ARNC) to multicast different layers to the vehicles. The scalability of our BTQT encoded point cloud provides a trade-off in the received voxel size/quality vs channel condition whereas the ARNC helps maximize the throughput under a hard delay constraint. The solution is tested with the outdoor 3D point cloud dataset from MERL for autonomous driving. The users with good channel conditions receive a near lossless point cloud whereas users with bad channel conditions are still able to receive at least the base layer point cloud.

With the promise of meeting future capacity demands, 3-D massive-MIMO/full dimension multiple-input-multiple-output (FD-MIMO) systems have gained much interest in recent years. Apart from the huge spectral efficiency gain, 3-D massive-MIMO/FD-MIMO systems can also lead to significant reduction of latency, simplified multiple access layer, and robustness to interference. However, in order to completely extract the benefits of the system, accurate channel state information is critical. In this paper, a channel estimation method based on direction of arrival (DoA) estimation is presented for 3-D millimeter wave massive-MIMO orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. To be specific, the DoA is estimated using estimation of signal parameter via rotational invariance technique method, and the root mean square error of the DoA estimation is analytically characterized for the corresponding MIMO-OFDM system. An ergodic capacity analysis of the system in the presence of DoA estimation error is also conducted, and an optimum power allocation algorithm is derived. Furthermore, it is shown that the DoA-based channel estimation achieves a better performance than the traditional linear minimum mean squared error estimation in terms of ergodic throughput and minimum chordal distance between the subspaces of the downlink precoders obtained from the underlying channel and the estimated channel.

Reservoir Computing (RC) is a class of machine learning approaches that is suitable for prediction tasks with low computational complexity. In this paper, an RC-based symbol detection for MIMO- OFDM systems is presented where RC is realized through the echo state network (ESN). Detailed energy-efficiency analysis is conducted to characterize the energy-efficiency of the introduced symbol detector. To be specific, the transmit power, the circuit power, and the computational power at both transmitter and receiver are jointly considered for the energy-efficiency analysis. The overall system energy-efficiency as well as the receiver energy-efficiency of the introduced RC-based symbol detector are compared with those of the popular linear minimum mean squared error (LMMSE)-based approach. Simulation and numerical results show that the RC-based symbol detector is a ``green'' solution compared to the traditional LMMSE-based method with lower energy consumption per information bit.

While massive multiple-input multiple-output system (MIMO) promises to provide substantial increase in spectral efficiency-per- cell, due to high dimensionality, estimating its channel is considered as one of the major challenges towards extracting all the benefits of such large antenna systems. In this paper, based on parametric channel modeling, we present a direction of arrival (DoA) estimation method for multi-cell multi-user 3D massive-MIMO/Full Dimension (FD-MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system using estimation of signal parameter via rotational invariance technique (ESPRIT). Furthermore, we analytically characterize the performance of ESPRIT-based DoA estimation in multiuser scenario, and investigate how pilot contamination, intra-cell, and inter-cell interference affect DoA estimation performance.

In 3D massive MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) systems, especially in time division duplex (TDD) mode, a base station (BS) relies on the uplink sounding signals from mobile stations to obtain the spatial information for downlink MIMO processing. Accordingly, multi-dimensional parameter estimation of MIMO channel becomes crucial for such systems to realize the predicted capacity gains. In this paper, we study the joint estimation of elevation and azimuth angles as well as the delay parameters for 3D massive MIMO orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems under a parametric channel modeling. To be specific, we introduce a matrix-based joint parameter estimation method, and analytically characterize its performance for massive MIMO OFDM systems. Results show that antenna array configuration at the BS plays a critical role in determining the underlying channel estimation performance, and the characterized MSEs match well with the simulated ones. Also, the parametric channel estimation outperforms the MMSE-based channel estimation in terms of the correlation between the estimated channel and the real channel.

In this paper, based on parametric channel modeling, we present a direction of arrival (DoA) estimation method for multi-cell multi-user 3D massive- MIMO#x002F;Full Dimension multiple-input multiple-output (FD-MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system. Using estimation of signal parameter via rotational invariance technique (ESPRIT), we investigate into the performance of DoA estimation for two possible scenarios- first, for the case where no angular domain overlapping from interference signals exists with the target user's DoAs, and second, for the case where a number of DoAs of the target user's channel are completely overlapped with DoAs from interference signals, to be specific, from pilot contamination.

Pulse based communication scheme, e.g., On-OFF Keying modulation Spread in Time (TS-OOK), is currently the only solution for nano-networks. In this paper, we present an initial analysis on the performance of pulse based communication scheme in nano-networks using stochastic geometry. To be specific, by modeling the transmission of pulse as random events, we theoretically characterize the cumulative distribution function of signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio and link throughput in nano-networks. Furthermore, both simulation and numerical results are presented to verify our analysis. Our results show that low-weight codes for TS-OOK can significantly increase the average throughput in dense nano-networks where the interference cannot be neglected.

With the promise of meeting future capacity demands for mobile broadband communications, 3D massive-MIMO/Full Dimension MIMO (FD-MIMO) systems have gained much interest among the researchers in recent years. Apart from the huge spectral efficiency gain offered by the system, the reason for this great interest can also be attributed to significant reduction of latency, simplified multiple access layer, and robustness to interference. However, in order to completely extract the benefits of massive-MIMO systems, accurate channel state information is very critical. In this paper, a channel estimation method based on direction of arrival (DoA) estimation is presented for massive-MIMO OFDM systems. To be specific, the DoA is estimated using Estimation of Signal Parameter via Rotational Invariance Technique (ESPRIT) method, and the capacity of the system is analytically characterized. It has been shown that optimum precoding matrix for the massive MIMO OFDM system can be constructed from the DoA estimation at the base station.

With the promise of meeting future capacity demands for mobile broadband communications, 3D massive-MIMO/Full Dimension MIMO (FD-MIMO) systems have gained much interest among the researchers in recent years. Apart from the huge spectral efficiency gain offered by the system, the reason for this great interest can also be attributed to significant reduction of latency, simplified multiple access layer, and robustness to interference. However, in order to completely extract the benefits of massive-MIMO systems, accurate channel state information is very critical. In this paper, a channel estimation method based on direction of arrival (DoA) estimation is presented for massive- MIMO OFDM systems. To be specific, the DoA is estimated using Estimation of Signal Parameter via Rotational Invariance Technique (ESPRIT) method, and the root mean square error (RMSE) of the DoA estimation is analytically characterized for the corresponding MIMO-OFDM system.