Coupler Position Optimization and Channel Estimation for Flexible Coupler Aided Multiuser Communication

In this paper, we propose a distributed flexible coupler (FC) array to enhance communication performance with low hardware cost. At each FC antenna, there is one fixed-position active antenna and multiple passive couplers that can move within a designated region around the active antenna. Moreover, each FC antenna is equipped with a local processing unit (LPU). All LPUs exchange signals with a central processing unit (CPU) for joint signal processing. We study an FC-aided multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system, where an FC array base station (BS) is deployed to enhance the downlink communication between the BS and multiple single-antenna users. We formulate optimization problems to maximize the achievable sum rate of users by jointly optimizing the coupler positions and digital beamforming, subject to movement constraints on the coupler positions and the transmit power constraint. To address the resulting nonconvex optimization problem, the digital beamforming is expressed as a function of the FC position vectors, which are then optimized using the proposed distributed coupler position optimization algorithm. Considering a structured time domain pattern of pilots and coupler positions, pilot-assisted centralized and distributed channel estimation algorithms are designed under the FC array architecture. Simulation results demonstrate that the distributed FC array achieves substantial rate gains over conventional benchmarks in multiuser systems without moving active antennas, and approaches the performance of fully active arrays while significantly reducing hardware cost and power consumption. Moreover, the proposed channel estimation algorithms outperform the benchmark schemes in terms of both pilot overhead and channel reconstruction accuracy.