arXiv subjects

Luca Sanguinetti

Publications and source records attributed to Luca Sanguinetti.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Theoretical Performance Limits of Massive MIMO with Uncorrelated Rician Fading Channels

This work considers a multicell Massive MIMO network with $L$ cells, each comprising a BS with $M$ antennas and $K$ single-antenna user equipments. Within this setting, we are interested in deriving approximations of the achievable rates in the uplink and downlink under the assumption that single-cell linear processing is used at each BS and that each intracell link forms an uncorrelated MIMO Rician fading channel matrix; that is, with a deterministic line-of-sight (LoS) path and a stochastic non-line-of-sight component describing a spatial uncorrelated multipath environment. The analysis is conducted assuming that $N$ and $K$ grow large with a given ratio $N/K$ under the assumption that the data transmission in each cell is affected by channel estimation errors, pilot contamination, an arbitrary large scale attenuation and LoS components. Numerical results are used to prove that the approximations are asymptotically tight, but accurate for systems with finite dimensions under different operating conditions. The asymptotic results are also used to evaluate the impact of LoS components. In particular, we exemplify how the number of antennas for achieving a target rate can be substantially reduced with LoS links of only a few dBs of strength.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2018

Decentralizing Multicell Beamforming via Deterministic Equivalents

This paper focuses on developing a decentralized framework for coordinated minimum power beamforming wherein $L$ base stations (BSs), each equipped with $N$ antennas, serve $K$ single-antenna users with specific rate constraints. This is realized by considering user specific intercell interference (ICI) strength as the principal coupling parameter among BSs. First, explicit deterministic expressions for transmit powers are derived for spatially correlated channels in the asymptotic regime in which $N$ and $K$ grow large with a non-trivial ratio $K/N$. These asymptotic expressions are then used to compute approximations of the optimal ICI values that depend only on the channel statistics. By relying on the approximate ICI values as coordination parameters, a distributed non-iterative coordination algorithm, suitable for large networks with limited backhaul, is proposed. A heuristic algorithm is also proposed relaxing coordination requirements even further as it only needs pathloss values for non-local channels. The proposed algorithms satisfy the target rates for all users even when $N$ and $K$ are relatively small. Finally, the potential benefits of grouping users with similar statistics are investigated to further reduce the overhead and computational effort of the proposed solutions. Simulation results show that the proposed methods yield near-optimal performance.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2018

Fundamental Asymptotic Behavior of (Two-User) Distributed Massive MIMO

This paper considers the uplink of a distributed Massive MIMO network where $N$ base stations (BSs), each equipped with $M$ antennas, receive data from $K=2$ users. We study the asymptotic spectral efficiency (as $M\to \infty$) with spatial correlated channels, pilot contamination, and different degrees of channel state information (CSI) and statistical knowledge at the BSs. By considering a two-user setup, we can simply derive fundamental asymptotic behaviors and provide novel insights into the structure of the optimal combining schemes. In line with [1], when global CSI is available at all BSs, the optimal minimum-mean squared error combining has an unbounded capacity as $M\to \infty$, if the global channel covariance matrices of the users are asymptotically linearly independent. This result is instrumental to derive a suboptimal combining scheme that provides unbounded capacity as $M\to \infty$ using only local CSI and global channel statistics. The latter scheme is shown to outperform a generalized matched filter scheme, which also achieves asymptotic unbounded capacity by using only local CSI and global channel statistics, but is derived following [2] on the basis of a more conservative capacity bound.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2018

Network Deployment for Maximal Energy Efficiency in Uplink with Multislope Path Loss

This work aims to design the uplink (UL) of a cellular network for maximal energy efficiency (EE). Each base station (BS) is randomly deployed within a given area and is equipped with $M$ antennas to serve $K$ user equipments (UEs). A multislope (distance-dependent) path loss model is considered and linear processing is used, under the assumption that channel state information is acquired by using pilot sequences (reused across the network). Within this setting, a lower bound on the UL spectral efficiency and a realistic circuit power consumption model are used to evaluate the network EE. Numerical results are first used to compute the optimal BS density and pilot reuse factor for a Massive MIMO network with three different detection schemes, namely, maximum ratio combining, zero-forcing (ZF) and multicell minimum mean-squared error. The numerical analysis shows that the EE is a unimodal function of BS density and achieves its maximum for a relatively small density of BS, irrespective of the employed detection scheme. This is in contrast to the single-slope (distance-independent) path loss model, for which the EE is a monotonic non-decreasing function of BS density. Then, we concentrate on ZF and use stochastic geometry to compute a new lower bound on the spectral efficiency, which is then used to optimize, for a given BS density, the pilot reuse factor, number of BS antennas and UEs. Closed- form expressions are computed from which valuable insights into the interplay between optimization variables, hardware characteristics, and propagation environment are obtained.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2018

Random Access in Massive MIMO by Exploiting Timing Offsets and Excess Antennas

Massive MIMO systems, where base stations are equipped with hundreds of antennas, are an attractive way to handle the rapid growth of data traffic. As the number of user equipments (UEs) increases, the initial access and handover in contemporary networks will be flooded by user collisions. In this paper, a random access protocol is proposed that resolves collisions and performs timing estimation by simply utilizing the large number of antennas envisioned in Massive MIMO networks. UEs entering the network perform spreading in both time and frequency domains, and their timing offsets are estimated at the base station in closed-form using a subspace decomposition approach. This information is used to compute channel estimates that are subsequently employed by the base station to communicate with the detected UEs. The favorable propagation conditions of Massive MIMO suppress interference among UEs whereas the inherent timing misalignments improve the detection capabilities of the protocol. Numerical results are used to validate the performance of the proposed procedure in cellular networks under uncorrelated and correlated fading channels. With $2.5\times10^3$ UEs that may simultaneously become active with probability 1\% and a total of $16$ frequency-time codes (in a given random access block), it turns out that, with $100$ antennas, the proposed procedure successfully detects a given UE with probability 75\% while providing reliable timing estimates.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2018

Solving Fractional Polynomial Problems by Polynomial Optimization Theory

This work aims to introduce the framework of polynomial optimization theory to solve fractional polynomial problems (FPPs). Unlike other widely used optimization frameworks, the proposed one applies to a larger class of FPPs, not necessarily defined by concave and convex functions. An iterative algorithm that is provably convergent and enjoys asymptotic optimality properties is proposed. Numerical results are used to validate its accuracy in the non-asymptotic regime when applied to the energy efficiency maximization in multiuser multiple-input multiple-output communication systems.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2018

Can Hardware Distortion Correlation be Neglected When Analyzing Uplink SE in Massive MIMO?

This paper analyzes how the distortion created by hardware impairments in a multiple-antenna base station affects the uplink spectral efficiency (SE), with focus on Massive MIMO. The distortion is correlated across the antennas, but has been often approximated as uncorrelated to facilitate (tractable) SE analysis. To determine when this approximation is accurate, basic properties of the distortion correlation are first uncovered. Then, we focus on third-order non-linearities and prove analytically and numerically that the correlation can be neglected in the SE analysis when there are many users. In i.i.d. Rayleigh fading with equal signal-to-noise ratios, this occurs when having five users.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2018

Online convex optimization and no-regret learning: Algorithms, guarantees and applications

Spurred by the enthusiasm surrounding the "Big Data" paradigm, the mathematical and algorithmic tools of online optimization have found widespread use in problems where the trade-off between data exploration and exploitation plays a predominant role. This trade-off is of particular importance to several branches and applications of signal processing, such as data mining, statistical inference, multimedia indexing and wireless communications (to name but a few). With this in mind, the aim of this tutorial paper is to provide a gentle introduction to online optimization and learning algorithms that are asymptotically optimal in hindsight - i.e., they approach the performance of a virtual algorithm with unlimited computational power and full knowledge of the future, a property known as no-regret. Particular attention is devoted to identifying the algorithms' theoretical performance guarantees and to establish links with classic optimization paradigms (both static and stochastic). To allow a better understanding of this toolbox, we provide several examples throughout the tutorial ranging from metric learning to wireless resource allocation problems.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2017

Massive MIMO has Unlimited Capacity

The capacity of cellular networks can be improved by the unprecedented array gain and spatial multiplexing offered by Massive MIMO. Since its inception, the coherent interference caused by pilot contamination has been believed to create a finite capacity limit, as the number of antennas goes to infinity. In this paper, we prove that this is incorrect and an artifact from using simplistic channel models and suboptimal precoding/combining schemes. We show that with multicell MMSE precoding/combining and a tiny amount of spatial channel correlation or large-scale fading variations over the array, the capacity increases without bound as the number of antennas increases, even under pilot contamination. More precisely, the result holds when the channel covariance matrices of the contaminating users are asymptotically linearly independent, which is generally the case. If also the diagonals of the covariance matrices are linearly independent, it is sufficient to know these diagonals (and not the full covariance matrices) to achieve an unlimited asymptotic capacity.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2017

Energy-Delay Efficient Power Control in Wireless Networks

This work aims at developing a power control framework to jointly optimize energy efficiency (measured in bit/Joule) and delay in wireless networks. A multi-objective approach is taken to deal with both performance metrics, while ensuring a minimum quality-of-service to each user in the network. Each user in the network is modeled as a rational agent that engages in a generalized non-cooperative game. Feasibility conditions are derived for the existence of each player's best response, and used to show that if these conditions are met, the game best response dynamics will converge to a unique Nash equilibrium. Based on these results, a convergent power control algorithm is derived, which can be implemented in a fully decentralized fashion. Next, a centralized power control algorithm is proposed, which also serves as a benchmark for the proposed decentralized solution. Due to the non-convexity of the centralized problem, the tool of maximum block improvement is used, to trade-off complexity with optimality.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2017

Spectral and Energy Efficiency of Superimposed Pilots in Uplink Massive MIMO

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 sequences while transmitting data and pilot symbols disjointly. An alternative method, called superimposed pilot (SP), sends a superposition of pilot and data symbols. This allows to use longer pilots which, in turn, reduces pilot contamination. We consider the uplink of a multicell Massive MIMO network using maximum ratio combining detection and compare RP and SP in terms of SE and EE. To this end, we derive rigorous closed-form achievable rates with SP under a practical random BS deployment. We prove that the reduction of pilot contamination with SP is outweighed by the additional coherent and non-coherent interference. Numerical results show that when both methods are optimized, RP achieves comparable SE and EE to SP in practical scenarios.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2017

Network Deployment for Maximal Energy Efficiency in Uplink with Zero-Forcing

This work aims to design a cellular network for maximal energy efficiency (EE). In particular, we consider the uplink with multi-antenna base stations and assume that zero- forcing (ZF) combining is used for data detection with imperfect channel state information. Using stochastic geometry and a new lower bound on the average per-user spectral efficiency of the network, we optimize the pilot reuse factor, number of antennas and users per base station. Closed-form expressions are computed from which valuable insights into the interplay between the optimization variables, hardware characteristics, and propagation environment are obtained. Numerical results are used to validate the analysis and make comparisons with a network using maximum ratio (MR) combining. The results show that a Massive MIMO setup arises as the EE-optimal network configuration. In addition, ZF provides higher EE than MR while allowing a smaller pilot reuse factor and a more dense network deployment.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2017

Large System Analysis of Power Normalization Techniques in Massive MIMO

Linear precoding has been widely studied in the context of Massive multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) together with two common power normalization techniques, namely, matrix normalization (MN) and vector normalization (VN). Despite this, their effect on the performance of Massive MIMO systems has not been thoroughly studied yet. The aim of this paper is to fulfill this gap by using large system analysis. Considering a system model that accounts for channel estimation, pilot contamination, arbitrary pathloss, and per-user channel correlation, we compute tight approximations for the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio and the rate of each user equipment in the system while employing maximum ratio transmission (MRT), zero forcing (ZF), and regularized ZF precoding under both MN and VN techniques. Such approximations are used to analytically reveal how the choice of power normalization affects the performance of MRT and ZF under uncorrelated fading channels. It turns out that ZF with VN resembles a sum rate maximizer while it provides a notion of fairness under MN. Numerical results are used to validate the accuracy of the asymptotic analysis and to show that in Massive MIMO, non-coherent interference and noise, rather than pilot contamination, are often the major limiting factors of the considered precoding schemes.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2017

Hybrid Precoding for Multi-Group Physical Layer Multicasting

Next generation of wireless networks will likely rely on large-scale antenna systems, either in the form of massive multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) or millimeter wave (mmWave) systems. Therefore, the conventional fully-digital precoders are not suitable for physical layer multicasting as they require a dedicated radio frequency chain per antenna element. In this paper, we show that in a multi-group multicasting system with an arbitrary number of transmit antennas, $G$ multicasting groups, and an arbitrary number of users in each group, one can achieve the performance of any fully-digital precoder with just $G$ radio frequency chains using the proposed hybrid multi-group multicasting structure.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2017

Optimal Design of Energy-Efficient Millimeter Wave Hybrid Transceivers for Wireless Backhaul

This work analyzes a mmWave single-cell network, which comprises a macro base station (BS) and an overlaid tier of small-cell BSs using a wireless backhaul for data traffic. We look for the optimal number of antennas at both BS and small-cell BSs that maximize the energy efficiency (EE) of the system when a hybrid transceiver architecture is employed. Closed-form expressions for the EE-optimal values of the number of antennas are derived that provide valuable insights into the interplay between the optimization variables and hardware characteristics. Numerical and analytical results show that the maximal EE is achieved by a 'close-to' fully-digital system wherein the number of BS antennas is approximately equal to the number of served small cells.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2017

Massive MIMO with Imperfect Channel Covariance Information

This work investigates the impact of imperfect statistical information in the uplink of massive MIMO systems. In particular, we first show why covariance information is needed and then propose two schemes for covariance matrix estimation. A lower bound on the spectral efficiency (SE) of any combining scheme is derived, under imperfect covariance knowledge, and a closed-form expression is computed for maximum-ratio combin- ing. We show that having covariance information is not critical, but that it is relatively easy to acquire it and to achieve SE close to the ideal case of having perfect statistical information.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2017

Pilot Contamination is Not a Fundamental Asymptotic Limitation in Massive MIMO

Massive MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) provides great improvements in spectral efficiency over legacy cellular networks, by coherent combining of the signals over a large antenna array and by spatial multiplexing of many users. Since its inception, the coherent interference caused by pilot contamination has been believed to be an impairment that does not vanish, even with an unlimited number of antennas. In this work, we show that this belief is incorrect and an artifact from using simplistic channel models and suboptimal signal processing schemes. We focus on the uplink and prove that with multicell MMSE combining, the spectral efficiency grows without bound as the number of antennas increases, even under pilot contamination, under a condition of linear independence between the channel covariance matrices. This condition is generally satisfied, except in special cases that are hardly found in practice.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2017

Reducing the Computational Complexity of Multicasting in Large-Scale Antenna Systems

In this paper, we study the physical layer multicasting to multiple co-channel groups in large-scale antenna systems. The users within each group are interested in a common message and different groups have distinct messages. In particular, we aim at designing the precoding vectors solving the so-called quality of service (QoS) and weighted max-min fairness (MMF) problems, assuming that the channel state information is available at the base station (BS). To solve both problems, the baseline approach exploits the semidefinite relaxation (SDR) technique. Considering a BS with $N$ antennas, the SDR complexity is more than $\mathcal{O}(N^{6})$, which prevents its application in large-scale antenna systems. To overcome this issue, we present two new classes of algorithms that, not only have significantly lower computational complexity than existing solutions, but also largely outperform the SDR based methods. Moreover, we present a novel duality between transformed versions of the QoS and the weighted MMF problems. The duality explicitly determines the solution to the weighted MMF problem given the solution to the QoS problem, and vice versa. Numerical results are used to validate the effectiveness of the proposed solutions and to make comparisons with existing alternatives under different operating conditions.

cs.IT↗