Extra-large massive multiple-input multiple-output (XL-MIMO) systems is a new concept, where spatial non-stationarities allow activate a high number of user equipments (UEs). This paper focuses on a grant-based random access (RA) approach in the novel XL-MIMO channel scenarios. Modifications in the classical Strongest User Collision Resolution (SUCRe) protocol have been aggregated to explore the visibility regions (VRs) overlapping in XL-MIMO. The proposed grant-based RA protocol takes advantage of this new degree of freedom for improving the number of access attempts and accepted UEs. As a result, the proposed grant-based protocol for XL-MIMO systems is capable of reducing latency in the pilot allocation step.
Grant-free multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) usually employs non-orthogonal pilots for joint user detection and channel estimation. However, existing methods are too complex for massive grant-free access in massive MIMO. This letter proposes pilot detection reference signal (PDRS) to greatly reduce the complexity. In PDRS scheme, no iteration is required. Direct weight estimation is also proposed to calculate combining weights without channel estimation. After combining, PDRS recovery errors are used to decide the pilot activity. The simulation results show that the proposed grant-free sch…
Massive MIMO is a promising technology to enable a massive number of Internet of Things nodes to transmit short and sporadic data bursts at low power. In conventional cellular networks, devices use a grant-based random access scheme to initiate communications. This scheme relies on a limited set of orthogonal preambles, which simplify signal processing operations at network access points. However, it is not well suited for Internet of Things (IoT) devices due to: (i) the large protocol overhead, and (ii) the high probability of collision. In contrast to the grant-based scheme, a grant-free app…
Massive access is one of the main use cases of beyond 5G (B5G) wireless networks and massive MIMO is a key technology for supporting it. Prior works studied massive access in the co-located massive MIMO framework. In this paper, we investigate the activity detection in grant-free random access for massive machine type communications (mMTC) in cell-free massive MIMO network. Each active device transmits a pre-assigned non-orthogonal pilot sequence to the APs and the APs send the received signals to a central processing unit (CPU) for joint activity detection. We formulate the maximum likelihood…
We propose a novel joint activity, channel, and data estimation (JACDE) scheme for cell-free multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems compliant with fifth-generation (5G) new radio (NR) orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signaling. The contribution aims to allow significant overhead reduction of cell-free MIMO systems by enabling grant-free access, while maintaining moderate throughput per user. To that end, we extend the conventional MIMO OFDM protocol so as to incorporate activity detection capability without resorting to spreading informative data symbols, in contrast wi…
Future wireless networks need to support massive machine type communication (mMTC) where a massive number of devices accesses the network and massive MIMO is a promising enabling technology. Massive access schemes have been studied for co-located massive MIMO arrays. In this paper, we investigate the activity detection in grant-free random access for mMTC in cell-free massive MIMO networks using distributed arrays. Each active device transmits a non-orthogonal pilot sequence to the access points (APs) and the APs send the received signals to a central processing unit (CPU) for joint activity d…
The design of highly scalable multiple access schemes is a main challenge in the evolution towards future massive machine-type communications, where reliability and latency constraints must be ensured to a large number of uncoordinated devices. In this scenario, coded random access (CRA) schemes, where successive interference cancellation algorithms allow large improvements with respect to classical random access protocols, have recently attracted an increasing interest. Impressive performance can be potentially obtained by combining CRA with massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO). In t…
This paper investigates joint channel estimation and device activity detection in the LEO satellite-enabled grant-free random access systems with large differential delay and Doppler shift. In addition, the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) with orthogonal time-frequency space modulation (OTFS) is utilized to combat the dynamics of the terrestrial-satellite link. To simplify the computation process, we estimate the channel tensor in parallel along the delay dimension. Then, the deep learning and expectation-maximization approach are integrated into the generalized approximate message passi…
5G cellular networks are designed to support a new range of applications not supported by previous standards. Among these, ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) applications are arguably the most challenging. URLLC service requires the user equipment (UE) to be able to transmit its data under strict latency constraints with high reliability. To address these requirements, new technologies, such as mini-slots, semi-persistent scheduling and grant-free access were introduced in 5G standards. In this work, we formulate a spatiotemporal mathematical model to evaluate the user-plane late…
Robust Learning-Based Sparse Recovery for Device Activity Detection in Grant-Free Random Access Cell-Free Massive MIMO: Enhancing Resilience to Impairments
CentraleSupélec（中央高等电力学院）；IETR - UMR CNRS 6164（电子与电信研究所 - 法国国家科学研究中心联合研究单位6164）
面向无蜂窝大规模 MIMO 的 mMTC 免授权随机接入，提出在 CPU 集中实现的数据驱动稀疏活动检测算法，并验证其抗输入扰动及定点实现性能。
A high success rate of grant-free random access scheme is proposed to support massive access for machine-to-machine communications in massive multipleinput multiple-output systems. This scheme allows active user equipments (UEs) to transmit their modulated uplink messages along with super pilots consisting of multiple sub-pilots to a base station (BS). Then, the BS performs channel state information (CSI) estimation and uplink message decoding by utilizing a proposed graph combined clustering independent component analysis (GCICA) decoding algorithm, and then employs the estimated CSIs to dete…
In this paper, we investigate jointly sparse signal recovery and jointly sparse support recovery in Multiple Measurement Vector (MMV) models for complex signals, which arise in many applications in communications and signal processing. Recent key applications include channel estimation and device activity detection in MIMO-based grant-free random access which is proposed to support massive machine-type communications (mMTC) for Internet of Things (IoT). Utilizing techniques in compressive sensing, optimization and deep learning, we propose two model-driven approaches, based on the standard aut…
The number of wireless devices is drastically increasing, resulting in many devices contending for radio resources. In this work, we present an algorithm to detect active devices for unsourced random access, i.e., the devices are uncoordinated. The devices use a unique, but non-orthogonal preamble, known to the network, prior to sending the payload data. They do not employ any carrier sensing technique and blindly transmit the preamble and data. To detect the active users, we exploit partial channel state information (CSI), which could have been obtained through a previous channel estimate. Fo…
This paper considers the joint channel estimation and device activity detection in the grant-free random access systems, where a large number of Internet-of-Things devices intend to communicate with a low-earth orbit satellite in a sporadic way. In addition, the massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) with orthogonal time-frequency space (OTFS) modulation is adopted to combat the dynamics of the terrestrial-satellite link. We first analyze the input-output relationship of the single-input single-output OTFS when the large delay and Doppler shift both exist, and then extend it to the gran…
We develop a new algorithm for activity detection for grant-free multiple access in distributed multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO). The algorithm is a distributed version of the approximate message passing (AMP) based on a soft combination of likelihood ratios computed independently at multiple access points. The underpinning theoretical basis of our algorithm is a new observation that we made about the state evolution in the AMP. Specifically, with a minimum mean-square error denoiser, the state maintains a block-diagonal structure whenever the covariance matrices of the signals have such …
Recently, grant-free random access schemes have received significant attention in the scientific community as a solution for extremely low-latency massive communications in new industrial Internet-of-things (IIoT) and digital twins applications. Unfortunately, the adoption of such schemes in the mmWave and THz bands is challenging because massive antenna arrays are needed to counteract the high path loss and provide massive access with consequent significant signaling overhead for channel estimation and slow beam alignment procedures between the base station (BS) and user equipments (UEs), whi…
We investigate the feasibility of using Massive MIMO to support URLLC in both coherence interval based and 3GPP compliant pilot settings. We consider grant-free uplink transmission with MMSE receiver and adopt 3GPP channel models. In the coherence interval based pilot setting, by extensive system level simulations, we find that using a Massive MIMO base station with 128 antennas and MMSE receiver, URLLC requirements can be achieved in Urban Macro (UMa) Non-Line of Sight (NLoS) with orthogonal pilots and Neyman-Pearson detector. However, in the 3GPP compliant pilot setting, even by using the co…
Many real-world scenarios for massive machine-type communication involve sensors monitoring a physical phenomenon. As a consequence, the activity pattern of these sensors will be correlated. In this letter, we study how the correlation of user activities can be exploited to improve detection performance in grant-free random access systems where the users transmit pilot-hopping sequences and the detection is performed based on the received energy. We show that we can expect considerable performance gains by adding regularizers, which take the activity correlation into account, to the non-negati…
We propose a decentralized receiver for extra-large multiple-input multiple-output (XL-MIMO) arrays. Our method operates with no central processing unit (CPU) and all the signal detection tasks are done in distributed nodes. We exploit a combined message-passing framework to design an uncoordinated detection scheme that overcomes three major challenges in the XL-MIMO systems: computational complexity, scalability and non-stationarities in user energy distribution. Our numerical evaluations show a significant performance improvement compared to benchmark distributed methods while operating very…
We study the design of receivers in extra-large scale MIMO (XL-MIMO) systems, i.e. systems in which the base station is equipped with an antenna array of extremely large dimensions. While XL-MIMO can significantly increase the system's spectral efficiency, they present two important challenges. One is the increased computational cost of the multi-antenna processing. The second is the variations of user energy distribution over the antenna elements and therefore spatial non-stationarities in these energy distributions. Such non-stationarities limit the performance of the system. In this paper, …
Preamble collision is a bottleneck that impairs the performance of random access (RA) user equipment (UE) in grant-free RA (GFRA). In this paper, by leveraging distributed massive multiple input multiple output (mMIMO) together with machine learning, a novel machine learning based framework solution is proposed to address the preamble collision problem in GFRA. The key idea is to identify and employ the neighboring access points (APs) of a collided RA UE for its data decoding rather than all the APs, so that the mutual interference among collided RA UEs can be effectively mitigated. To this en…
Estimating downlink (DL) channel state information (CSI) in frequency division duplex (FDD) massive multi-input multi-output (MIMO) systems generally requires downlink pilots and feedback overheads. Accordingly, this paper investigates the feasibility of zero-feedback FDD massive MIMO systems based on channel extrapolation. We use the high-resolution parameter estimation (HRPE), specifically the space-alternating generalized expectation-maximization (SAGE) algorithm, to extrapolate the DL CSI based on the extracted parameters of multipath components in the uplink channel. We apply the HRPE to …
With the inherent benefits, such as, better cell coverage and higher area throughput, extra-large scale massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) has great potential to be one of the key technologies for the next generation wireless communication systems. However, in practice, when the antenna dimensions grow large, spatial non-stationarities occur and users will only see a portion of the base station antenna array, which we call visibility region (VR). To assess the impact of spatial non-stationarities, in this paper, we investigate the uplink transmission of extra-large scale massive MIM…
In massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, the large number of antennas would bring a great challenge for the acquisition of the accurate channel state information, especially in the frequency division duplex mode. To overcome the bottleneck of the limited number of radio links in hybrid beamforming, we utilize the neural networks (NNs) to capture the inherent connection between the uplink and downlink channel data sets and extrapolate the downlink channels from a subset of the uplink channel state information. We study the antenna subset selection problem in order to achieve th…
Massive multiple-input-multiple-output (M-MIMO) features a capability for spatial multiplexing of large number of users. This number becomes even more extreme in extra-large (XL-MIMO), a variant of M-MIMO where the antenna array is of very large size. Yet, the problem of signal processing complexity in M-MIMO is further exacerbated by the XL size of the array. The basic processing problem boils down to a sparse system of linear equations that can be addressed by the randomized Kaczmarz (RK) algorithm. This algorithm has recently been applied to devise low-complexity M-MIMO receivers; however, …
A critical bottleneck of massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system is the huge training overhead caused by downlink transmission, like channel estimation, downlink beamforming and covariance observation. In this paper, we propose to use the channel state information (CSI) of a small number of antennas to extrapolate the CSI of the other antennas and reduce the training overhead. Specifically, we design a deep neural network that we call an antenna domain extrapolation network (ADEN) that can exploit the correlation function among antennas. We then propose a deep learning (DL) based …
This work presents a novel framework for random access in crowded scenarios of multiple-input multiple-output(MIMO) systems. A multi-antenna base station (BS) and multiple single-antenna users are considered in these systems. A huge portion of the system resources is dedicated as orthogonal pilots for accurate channel estimation which imposes a huge training overhead. This overhead can be highly mitigated by exploiting intrinsic angular domain sparsity of massive MIMO channels and the sporadic traffic of users, i.e., few number of users are active to sent or receive data in each coherence inte…
