Spatially Non-Stationary XL-MIMO Channel Estimation: A Three-Layer Generalized Approximate Message Passing Method

In this paper, channel estimation problem for extremely large-scale multi-input multi-output (XL-MIMO) systems is investigated with the considerations of the spherical wavefront effect and the spatially non-stationary (SnS) property. Due to the diversities of SnS characteristics among different propagation paths, the concurrent channel estimation of multiple paths becomes intractable. To address this challenge, we propose a two-phase channel estimation scheme. In the first phase, the angles of departure (AoDs) on the user side are estimated, and a carefully designed pilot transmission scheme enables the decomposition of the received signal from different paths. In the second phase, the subchannel estimation corresponding to different paths is formulated as a three-layer Bayesian inference problem. Specifically, the first layer captures block sparsity in the angular domain, the second layer promotes SnS property in the antenna domain, and the third layer decouples the subchannels from the observed signals. To efficiently facilitate Bayesian inference, we propose a novel three-layer generalized approximate message passing (TL-GAMP) algorithm based on structured variational massage passing and belief propagation rules. Simulation results validate the convergence and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, showcasing its robustness to different channel scenarios.

Low-Complexity Channel Estimation for Extremely Large-Scale MIMO in Near Field

The extremely large-scale massive multiple-input multiple-output (XL-MIMO) has the potential to achieve boosted spectral efficiency and refined spatial resolution for future wireless networks. However, channel estimation for XL-MIMO is challenging since the large number of antennas results in high computational complexity with the near-field effect. In this letter, we propose a low-complexity sequential angle-distance channel estimation (SADCE) method for near-field XL-MIMO systems equipped with uniformly planar arrays (UPA). Specifically, we first successfully decouple the angle and distance parameters, which allows us to devise a two-dimensional discrete Fourier transform (2D-DFT) method for angle parameters estimation. Then, a low-complexity distance estimation method is proposed with a closed-form solution. Compared with existing methods, the proposed method achieves significant performance gain with noticeably reduced computational complexity.Numerical results verify the superiority of the proposed near-field channel estimation algorithm.

Joint Visibility Region and Channel Estimation for Extremely Large-scale MIMO Systems

In this work, we investigate the channel estimation (CE) problem for extremely large-scale multiple-input-multiple-output (XL-MIMO) systems, considering both the spherical wavefront effect and spatial non-stationarity (SnS). Unlike existing non-stationary CE methods that rely on the statistical characteristics of channels in the spatial or temporal domain, our approach seeks to leverage sparsity in both the spatial and wavenumber domains simultaneously to achieve an accurate estimation.To this end, we introduce a two-stage visibility region (VR) detection and CE framework. Specifically, in the first stage, the belief regarding the visibility of antennas is obtained through a structured message passing (MP) scheme, which fully exploits the block sparse structure of the antenna-domain channel. In the second stage, using the obtained VR information and wavenumber-domain sparsity, we accurately estimate the SnS channel employing the belief-based orthogonal matching pursuit (BB-OMP) method. Simulations demonstrate that the proposed algorithms lead to a significant enhancement in VR detection and CE accuracy, especially in low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) scenarios.

How Practical Phase-shift Errors Affect Beamforming of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface?

Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) is a new technique that is able to manipulate the wireless environment smartly and has been exploited for assisting the wireless communications, especially at high frequency band. However, it suffers from hardware impairments (HWIs) in practical designs, which inevitably degrades its performance and thus limits its full potential. To address this practical issue, we first propose a new RIS reflection model involving phase-shift errors, which is then verified by the measurement results from field trials. With this beamforming model, various phase-shift errors caused by different HWIs can be analyzed. The phase-shift errors are classified into three categories: (1) globally independent and identically distributed errors, (2) grouped independent and identically distributed errors and (3) grouped fixed errors. The impact of typical HWIs, including frequency mismatch, PIN diode failures and panel deformation, on RIS beamforming ability are studied with the theoretical model and are compared with numerical results. The impact of frequency mismatch are discussed separately for narrow-band and wide-band beamforming. Finally, useful insights and guidelines on the RIS design and its deployment are highlighted for practical wireless systems.

Distributed and Joint Optimization of Precoding and Power for User-Centric Cell-Free Massive MIMO

In the cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output (CF mMIMO) system, the centralized transmission scheme is widely adopted to manage the inter-user interference. Unfortunately, its implementation is limited by the extensive signaling overhead between the central process unit (CPU) and the access points (APs). In this letter, we study the downlink transmission scheme in a distributed approach. First, we propose a reduced channel state information (CSI) exchange mechanism, where only the CSI of a portion of users is shared among neighboring APs. Base on this, the dual decomposition method is adopted to jointly optimize the precoder and power control. The precoding vector can be independently calculated by each AP cluster with closed-form expression. With very few iterations, the proposed distributed scheme achieves the same performance as the centralized one. Moreover, it significantly reduces the information exchange to the CPU.

Achieving Efficient Distributed Machine Learning Using a Novel Non-Linear Class of Aggregation Functions

Distributed machine learning (DML) over time-varying networks can be an enabler for emerging decentralized ML applications such as autonomous driving and drone fleeting. However, the commonly used weighted arithmetic mean model aggregation function in existing DML systems can result in high model loss, low model accuracy, and slow convergence speed over time-varying networks. To address this issue, in this paper, we propose a novel non-linear class of model aggregation functions to achieve efficient DML over time-varying networks. Instead of taking a linear aggregation of neighboring models as most existing studies do, our mechanism uses a nonlinear aggregation, a weighted power-p mean (WPM) where p is a positive odd integer, as the aggregation function of local models from neighbors. The subsequent optimizing steps are taken using mirror descent defined by a Bregman divergence that maintains convergence to optimality. In this paper, we analyze properties of the WPM and rigorously prove convergence properties of our aggregation mechanism. Additionally, through extensive experiments, we show that when p > 1, our design significantly improves the convergence speed of the model and the scalability of DML under time-varying networks compared with arithmetic mean aggregation functions, with little additional 26computation overhead.