Accurate channel state information in wideband MIMO systems is constrained by pilot overhead, a challenge intensifying as bandwidths scale toward 6G. This paper proposes a structure-informed hybrid estimator formulating pilot-limited MIMO channel estimation as low-rank tensor completion from sparse pilot observations---an underdetermined inverse problem that prior approaches avoid by assuming fully observed tensors. Canonical polyadic~(CP) and Tucker decompositions are compared: CP excels for specular channels matching its rank-one parameterization exactly, while Tucker provides numerical stability at extreme pilot scarcity where CP exhibits heavy-tail divergence. A lightweight 3D U-Net learns residual components beyond the low-rank structure, compensating for diffuse scattering and hardware non-idealities. On synthetic specular channels, Tucker completion improves normalized mean-squared error (NMSE) by $10.88$~dB over least squares and $7.83$~dB over orthogonal matching pursuit at $10\%$ pilot density ($ρ$); CP outperforms Tucker by $13.11$~dB at SNR=20~dB. On DeepMIMO channels, the hybrid Tensor--NN estimator has two regimes: Tensor--NN(Tucker) remains stable at $ρ=2\%$ where CP diverges, while a CP-guided variant becomes best from $ρ\ge 4\%$, reaching $-16.44$~dB at $ρ=8\%$ and $-20.34$~dB at $ρ=20\%$. The Tucker-guided variant outperforms unconstrained deep learning across the full pilot range; the CP-guided variant widens this gap once stable. Empirical analysis confirms sample complexity scales with intrinsic channel dimensionality (dominant paths) rather than ambient tensor size.
Next generation wireless networks aim at providing substantial improvements in spectral efficiency (SE) and energy efficiency (EE). Massive MIMO has been proved to be a viable technology to achieve these goals by spatially multiplexing several users using many base station (BS) antennas. A potential limitation of Massive MIMO in multicell systems is pilot contamination, which arises in the channel estimation process from the interference caused by reusing pilots in neighboring cells. A standard method to reduce pilot contamination, known as regular pilot (RP), is to adjust the length of pilot …
In this paper, the problem of pilot contamination in a multi-cell massive multiple input multiple output (M-MIMO) system is addressed using deep reinforcement learning (DRL). To this end, a pilot assignment strategy is designed that adapts to the channel variations while maintaining a tolerable pilot contamination effect. Using the angle of arrival (AoA) information of the users, a cost function, portraying the reward, is presented, defining the pilot contamination effects in the system. Numerical results illustrate that the DRL-based scheme is able to track the changes in the environment, lea…
In multi-cell massive MIMO systems, channel estimation is deteriorated by pilot contamination and the effects of pilot contamination become more severe due to hardware impairments. In this paper, we propose a joint pilot design and channel estimation based on deep residual learning in order to mitigate the effects of pilot contamination under the consideration of hardware impairments. We first investigate a conventional linear minimum mean square error (LMMSE) based channel estimator to suppress the interference caused by pilot contamination. After that, a deep learning based pilot design is p…
This letter proposes a deep learning based pilot design scheme to minimize the sum mean square error (MSE) of channel estimation for multi-user distributed massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. The pilot signal of each user is expressed as a weighted superposition of orthonormal pilot sequence basis, where the power assigned to each pilot sequence is the corresponding weight. A multi-layer fully connected deep neural network (DNN) is designed to optimize the power allocated to each pilot sequence to minimize the sum MSE, which takes the channel large-scale fading coefficients …
The doubly selective (DS) channel estimation in the large-scale multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems is a challenging problem due to the large number of the channel coefficients to be estimated, which requires unaffordable and prohibitive pilot overhead. In this paper, firstly we conduct the analysis about the common sparsity of the basis expansion model (BEM) coefficients among all the BEM orders and all the transmit-receive antenna pairs. Then a novel pilot pattern is proposed, which inserts the guard pilots to deal with the inter carrier interference (ICI) under the superimposed pi…
In the uplink of multiuser multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) systems operating over aging channels, pilot spacing is crucial for acquiring channel state information and achieving high signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR). Somewhat surprisingly, very few works examine the impact of pilot spacing on the correlation structure of subsequent channel estimates and the resulting quality of channel state information considering channel aging. In this paper, we consider a fast-fading environment characterized by its exponentially decaying autocorrelation function, and model pilot spaci…
With the large number of antennas and subcarriers the overhead due to pilot transmission for channel estimation can be prohibitive in wideband massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. This can degrade the overall spectral efficiency significantly, and as a result, curtail the potential benefits of massive MIMO. In this paper, we propose a neural network (NN)-based joint pilot design and downlink channel estimation scheme for frequency division duplex (FDD) MIMO orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) systems. The proposed NN architecture uses fully connected layers for fre…
Massive multiple-input multiple-output (mMIMO) technology is a way to increase the spectral efficiency of machine-type communications (MTC). To exploit the benefits from large antenna arrays, accurate channel estimation through pilot signals is needed. Massive MTC systems cannot avoid pilot reuse due to the enormous numbers of connected devices. We propose a pilot reuse algorithm based on channel charting (CC) to mitigate pilot contamination in a multi-sector single-cell massive MTC system having spatially correlated channels. We show that after creating an interference map via CC, a simple st…
Resource allocation is conceived for cell-free (CF) massive multi-input multi-output (MIMO)-aided ultra-reliable and low latency communication (URLLC) systems. Specifically, to support multiple devices with limited pilot overhead, pilot reuse among the users is considered, where we formulate a joint pilot length and pilot allocation strategy for maximizing the number of devices admitted. Then, the pilot power and transmit power are jointly optimized while simultaneously satisfying the devices' decoding error probability, latency, and data rate requirements. Firstly, we derive the lower bounds …
Efficient channel state information at transmitter (CSIT) for frequency division duplex (FDD) massive MIMO can facilitate its backward compatibility with existing FDD cellular networks. To date, several CSIT estimation schemes have been proposed for FDD single-cell massive MIMO systems, but they fail to consider inter-cell-interference (ICI) and suffer from downlink pilot contamination in multi-cell scenario. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a compressive sensing (CS)-based CSIT estimation scheme to combat ICI in FDD multi-cell massive MIMO systems. Specifically, angle-domain massive…
This letter studies the pilot contamination (PC) problem for massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) networks with coexisting terrestrial users and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Due to the strong line-of-sight (LoS) air-to-ground channels between UAVs and base stations (BSs), UAVs usually cause a more severe PC issue as compared to the traditional terrestrial users. To mitigate the PC caused by UAVs, we propose a low-complexity distributed scheme by exploiting the full-dimensional beamforming of massive MIMO BSs and the angle-dependent LoS channels between them and high-altitude UAVs.…
This paper investigates Cell-Free massive MIMO networks, where each access point (AP) is equipped with a hybrid transceiver, reducing the complexity and cost compared to a fully digital transceiver. Asymptotic approximations for the spectral efficiency are derived for uplink and downlink. Capitalizing on these expressions, a max-min problem is formulated to optimize the (i) analog beamformer at the APs and (ii) pilot assignment. Simulations show that the optimization of these variables substantially increases the network performance.
This paper derives a novel pilot-aided phase and channel estimation algorithm for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems with phase noise and quasi-static channel fading. Our novel approach allows, for the first time, carrier phase estimation and recovery to be performed before full channel estimation. This in turn enables the channel estimation to be calculated using the whole frame, significantly improving its accuracy. The proposed algorithm is a sequential combination of several linear algorithms, which greatly reduces the computational complexity. Moreover, we also derive, for the …
We propose a strategy for orthogonal downlink pilot assignment in cell-free massive MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) that exploits knowledge of the channel state information, the channel hardening degree at each user, and the mobility conditions for the users. These elements, properly combined together, are used to define a user pilot utility metric, which measures the user's real need of a downlink pilot for efficient data decoding. The proposed strategy consists in assigning orthogonal downlink pilots only to the users having a pilot utility metric exceeding a predetermined threshold. I…
This letter focuses on the problem of pilot assignment in cell-free massive MIMO systems. Exploiting the well-known Hungarian algorithms, two procedures are proposed, one maximizing the system throughput, and the other one maximizing the fairness across users. The algorithms operate based on the knowledge of large-scale fading coefficients as a proxy for the distances between users in the system and take into account both the uplink and downlink performance. Numerical results show that the proposed pilot assignment algorithms are effective and outperform the many competing alternatives availab…
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…
Score-Based Conditional Flow Models for MIMO Receiver Design with Superimposed Pilots
Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications(北京邮电大学);China Mobile Research Institute(中国移动研究院);The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou)(香港科技大学(广州));University of Kent(肯特大学)
In this paper, we analyze the benefits of including downlink pilots in a cell-free massive MIMO system. We derive an approximate per-user achievable downlink rate for conjugate beamforming processing, which takes into account both uplink and downlink channel estimation errors, and power control. A performance comparison is carried out, in terms of per-user net throughput, considering cell-free massive MIMO operation with and without downlink training, for different network densities. We take also into account the performance improvement provided by max-min fairness power control in the downlin…
Cell-free (CF) massive multiple-input multiple-output (M-MIMO) technology plays a prominent role in the beyond fifth-generation (5G) networks. However, designing a high performance CF M-MIMO detector is a challenging task due to the presence of pilot contamination which appears when the number of pilot sequences is smaller than the number of users. This work proposes a CF M-MIMO detector referred to as CF expectation propagation (CF-EP) that incorporates the pilot contamination when calculating the posterior belief. The simulation results show that the proposed detector achieves significant im…
The focus of this letter is on the reduction of the large pilot overhead in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) based massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. We propose a novel joint channel estimation and equalization technique that requires only one pilot subcarrier, reducing the pilot overhead by orders of magnitude. We take advantage of the coherent bandwidth spanning over multiple subcarrier bands. This allows for a band of subcarriers to be equalized with the channel frequency response (CFR) at a single subcarrier. Subsequently, the detected data symbols are …
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…
In massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems with time shifted pilot (TSP) schemes, the inter-group interference caused by the pilot contamination can be eliminated when the number of base station (BS) antennas M approaches infinity. However, M is finite in practice and the effectiveness of the TSP is limited by channel estimation errors. In this paper, it is analytically shown that the mean square channel estimation error (MSCEE) of the TSP is dominated by the intergroup data interference. To reduce the MSCEE in the finite antenna massive MIMO systems, an interference cancellation…
Estimation in few-bit MIMO systems is challenging, since the received signals are nonlinearly distorted by the low-resolution ADCs. In this paper, we propose a deep learning framework for channel estimation, data detection, and pilot signal design to address the nonlinearity in such systems. The proposed channel estimation and data detection networks are model-driven and have special structures that take advantage of the domain knowledge in the few-bit quantization process. While the first data detection network, namely B-DetNet, is based on a linearized model obtained from the Bussgang decomp…
This paper considers uplink massive MIMO systems with 1-bit analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and develops a deep-learning based channel estimation framework. In this framework, the prior channel estimation observations and deep neural network models are leveraged to learn the non-trivial mapping from quantized received measurements to channels. For that, we derive the sufficient length and structure of the pilot sequence to guarantee the existence of this mapping function. This leads to the interesting, and \textit{counter-intuitive}, observation that when more antennas are employed by the …
This paper considers the use of NOMA in multiuser MIMO systems in practical scenarios where CSI is acquired through pilot signaling. A new NOMA scheme that uses shared pilots is proposed. Achievable rate analysis is carried out for different pilot signaling schemes including both uplink and downlink pilots. The achievable rate performance of the proposed NOMA scheme with shared pilot within each group is compared with the traditional orthogonal access scheme with orthogonal pilots. Our proposed scheme is a generalization of the orthogonal scheme, and can be reduced to the orthogonal scheme whe…
Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) is a critical technology for future fifth-generation (5G) systems. Reduced pilot contamination (PC) enhanced system performance, and reduced inter-cell interference and improved channel estimation. However, because the pilot sequence transmitted by users in a single cell to neighboring cells is not orthogonal, massive MIMO systems are still constrained. We propose channel evaluation using orthogonal pilot reuse sequences (PRS) and zero forced (ZF) pre-coding techniques to eliminate channel quality in end users with poor channel quality based on cha…
Since the seminal paper by Marzetta from 2010, Massive MIMO has changed from being a theoretical concept with an infinite number of antennas to a practical technology. The key concepts are adopted in 5G and base stations (BSs) with $M=64$ full-digital transceivers have been commercially deployed in sub-6\,GHz bands. The fast progress was enabled by many solid research contributions of which the vast majority assume spatially uncorrelated channels and signal processing schemes developed for single-cell operation. These assumptions make the performance analysis and optimization of Massive MIMO t…
Near-Field Multiuser Beam Training for XL-MIMO: An End-to-End Interference-Aware Approach with Pilot Limitations
National Key Laboratory of Wireless Communications, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China(电子科技大学);Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge(剑桥大学);Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Ningbo University(宁波大学)
We consider the pilot assignment problem in large-scale distributed multi-input multi-output (MIMO) networks, where a large number of remote radio head (RRH) antennas are randomly distributed in a wide area, and jointly serve a relatively smaller number of users (UE) coherently. By artificially imposing topological structures on the UE-RRH connectivity, we model the network by a partially-connected interference network, so that the pilot assignment problem can be cast as a topological interference management problem with multiple groupcast messages. Building upon such connection, we formulate …
Massive MIMO uses a large number of antennas to increase the spectral efficiency (SE) through spatial multiplexing of users, which requires accurate channel state information. It is often assumed that regular pilots (RP), where a fraction of the time-frequency resources is reserved for pilots, suffices to provide high SE. However, the SE is limited by the pilot overhead and pilot contamination. An alternative is superimposed pilots (SP) where all resources are used for pilots and data. This removes the pilot overhead and reduces pilot contamination by using longer pilots. However, SP suffers f…
Random access is necessary in crowded scenarios due to the limitation of pilot sequences and the intermittent pattern of device activity. Nowadays, most of the related works are based on independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) channels. However, massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channels are not always i.i.d. in realistic outdoor wireless propagation environments. In this paper, a device grouping and pilot set allocation algorithm is proposed for the uplink massive MIMO systems over spatially correlated Rayleigh fading channels. Firstly, devices are divided into multiple g…
Cell-free Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) ensures ubiquitous communication at high spectral efficiency (SE) thanks to increased macro-diversity as compared cellular communications. However, system scalability and performance are limited by fronthauling traffic and interference. Unlike conventional precoding schemes that only suppress intra-cell interference, full-pilot zero-forcing (fpZF), introduced in [1], actively suppresses also inter-cell interference, without sharing channel state information (CSI) among the access points (APs). In this study, we derive a new closed-form ex…
Pay Less But Get More: A Dual-Attention-based Channel Estimation Network for Massive MIMO Systems with Low-Density Pilots
School of Intelligent Systems Science and Engineering, Jinan University(暨南大学智能系统科学与工程学院);Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Macau(澳门大学电气与计算机工程系)
Pilot contamination has been regarded as the main bottleneck in time division duplexing (TDD) multi-cell massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. The pilot contamination problem cannot be addressed with large-scale antenna arrays. We provide a novel asynchronous channel training scheme to obtain precise channel matrices without the cooperation of base stations. The scheme takes advantage of sampling diversity by inducing intentional timing mismatch. Then, the linear minimum mean square error (LMMSE) estimator and the zero-forcing (ZF) estimator are designed. Moreover, we derive t…
In a cell-free cloud radio access network (C-RAN) architecture, uplink channel estimation is carried out by a centralized baseband processing unit (BBU) connected to distributed remote radio heads (RRHs). When the RRHs have multiple antennas and limited radio front-end resources, the design of uplink channel estimation is faced with the challenges posed by reduced radio frequency (RF) chains and one-bit analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) at the RRHs. This work tackles the problem of jointly optimizing the pilot sequences and the pre-RF chains analog combiners with the goal of minimizing the s…
We investigate the effects of pilot assignment in multi-cell massive multiple-input multiple-output systems. When deploying a large number of antennas at base station (BS), and linear detection/precoding algorithms, the system performance in both uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) is mainly limited by pilot contamination. This interference is proper of each pilot, and thus system performance can be improved by suitably assigning the pilot sequences to the users within the cell, according to the desired metric. We show in this paper that UL and DL performances constitute conflicting metrics, in such…
The spectral efficiency (SE) of Massive MIMO (MaMIMO) systems is affected by low quality channel estimates. Rate-Splitting (RS) has recently gained some interest in multiuser multiple antenna systems as an effective means to mitigate the multi-user interference due to imperfect channel state information. This paper investigates the benefits of RS in the downlink of a single-cell MaMIMO system when all the users use the same pilot sequence for channel estimation. Novel expressions for the SE achieved in the downlink by a single-layer RS strategy (that relies on a single successive interference …
In this paper, we investigate the blind channel estimation problem for MIMO systems under Rayleigh fading channel. Conventional MIMO communication techniques require transmitting a considerable amount of training symbols as pilots in each data block to obtain the channel state information (CSI) such that the transmitted signals can be successfully recovered. However, the pilot overhead and contamination become a bottleneck for the practical application of MIMO systems with the increase of the number of antennas. To overcome this obstacle, we propose a blind channel estimation framework, where …
Distributed or Cell-free (CF) massive Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output (mMIMO), has been recently proposed as an answer to the limitations of the current network-centric systems in providing high-rate ubiquitous transmission. The capability of providing uniform service level makes CF mMIMO a potential technology for beyond-5G and 6G networks. The acquisition of accurate Channel State Information (CSI) is critical for different CF mMIMO operations. Hence, an uplink pilot training phase is used to efficiently estimate transmission channels. The number of available orthogonal pilot signals is limi…