Energy efficiency of DMAs vs. conventional MIMO: a sensitivity analysis

Motivated by the stringent and challenging need for `greener communications' in increasingly power-hungry 5G networks, this paper presents a detailed energy efficiency analysis for three different multi-antenna architectures, namely fully-digital arrays, hybrid arrays, and dynamic metasurface antennas (DMAs). By leveraging a circuital model, which captures mutual coupling, insertion losses, propagation through the waveguides in DMAs and other electromagnetic phenomena, we design a transmit Wiener filter solution for the three systems. We then use these results to analyze the energy efficiency, considering different consumption models and supplied power, and with particular focus on the impact of the physical phenomena. DMAs emerge as an efficient alternative to classical arrays across diverse tested scenarios, most notably under low transmission power, strong coupling, and scalability requirements.