Impact of Synchronization Offsets and CSI Feedback Delay in Distributed MIMO Systems

The main challenges of distributed MIMO systems lie in achieving highly accurate synchronization and ensuring the availability of accurate channel state information (CSI) at distributed nodes. This paper analytically examines the effects of synchronization offsets and CSI feedback delays on system capacity, providing insights into how these affect the coherent joint transmission gain. The capacity expressions are first derived under ideal conditions, and the effects of synchronization offsets and feedback delays are subsequently incorporated. This analysis can be applied to any distributed MIMO architecture. A comprehensive study, including system models and simulations evaluating the analytical expressions, is presented to quantify the capacity degradation caused by these factors. This study provides valuable insights into the design and performance of distributed MIMO systems. The analysis shows that time and frequency offsets, along with CSI feedback delay, cause inter-layer interference. Additionally, time offsets result in inter-symbol interference.

Wireless Mobile Distributed-MIMO for 6G

The paper proposes a new architecture for Distributed MIMO (D-MIMO) in which the base station (BS) jointly transmits with wireless mobile nodes to serve users (UEs) within a cell for 6G communication systems. The novelty of the architecture lies in the wireless mobile nodes participating in joint D-MIMO transmission with the BS (referred to as D-MIMO nodes), which are themselves users on the network. The D-MIMO nodes establish wireless connections with the BS, are generally near the BS, and ideally benefit from higher SNR links and better connections with edge-located UEs. These D-MIMO nodes can be existing handset UEs, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), or Vehicular UEs. Since the D-MIMO nodes are users sharing the access channel, the proposed architecture operates in two phases. First, the BS communicates with the D-MIMO nodes to forward data for the joint transmission, and then the BS and D-MIMO nodes jointly serve the UEs through coherent D-MIMO operation. Capacity analysis of this architecture is studied based on realistic 3GPP channel models, and the paper demonstrates that despite the two-phase operation, the proposed architecture enhances the system's capacity compared to the baseline where the BS communicates directly with the UEs.