In distributed massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, multiple geographically separated access points (APs) communicate simultaneously with a user, leveraging the benefits of multi-antenna coherent MIMO processing and macro-diversity gains from the distributed setups. However, time and frequency synchronization of the multiple APs is crucial to achieve good performance and enable joint precoding. In this paper, we analyze the synchronization requirement among multiple APs from a reciprocity perspective, taking into account the multiplicative impairments caused by mismatches in radio frequency (RF) hardware. We demonstrate that a phase calibration of reciprocity-calibrated APs is sufficient for the joint coherent transmission of data to the user. To achieve synchronization, we propose a novel over-the-air synchronization protocol, named BeamSync, to calibrate the geographically separated APs without sending any measurements to the central processing unit (CPU) through fronthaul. We show that sending the synchronization signal in the dominant direction of the channel between APs is optimal. Additionally, we derive the optimal phase and frequency offset estimators. Simulation results indicate that the proposed BeamSync method enhances performance by 3 dB when the number of antennas at the APs is doubled. Moreover, the method performs well compared to traditional beamforming techniques.

Cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) is a promising technology for next-generation communication systems. This work proposes a novel partially coherent (PC) transmission framework to cope with the challenge of phase misalignment among the access points (APs), which is important for unlocking the full potential of cell-free massive MIMO technology. With the PC operation, the APs are only required to be phase-aligned within clusters. Each cluster transmits the same data stream towards each user equipment (UE), while different clusters send different data streams. We first propose a novel algorithm to group APs into clusters such that the distance between two APs is always smaller than a reference distance ensuring the phase alignment of these APs. Then, we propose new algorithms that optimize the combining at UEs and precoding at APs to maximize the downlink sum data rates. We also propose a novel algorithm for data stream allocation to further improve the sum data rate of the PC operation. Numerical results show that the PC operation using the proposed framework with a sufficiently small reference distance can offer a sum rate close to the sum rate of the ideal fully coherent (FC) operation that requires network-wide phase alignment. This demonstrates the potential of PC operation in practical deployments of cell-free massive MIMO networks.

Fifth generation (5G) mobile communication systems have entered the stage of commercial deployment, providing users with new services, improved user experiences as well as a host of novel opportunities to various industries. However, 5G still faces many challenges. To address these challenges, international industrial, academic, and standards organizations have commenced research on sixth generation (6G) wireless communication systems. A series of white papers and survey papers have been published, which aim to define 6G in terms of requirements, application scenarios, key technologies, etc. Although ITU-R has been working on the 6G vision and it is expected to reach a consensus on what 6G will be by mid-2023, the related global discussions are still wide open and the existing literature has identified numerous open issues. This paper first provides a comprehensive portrayal of the 6G vision, technical requirements, and application scenarios, covering the current common understanding of 6G. Then, a critical appraisal of the 6G network architecture and key technologies is presented. Furthermore, existing testbeds and advanced 6G verification platforms are detailed for the first time. In addition, future research directions and open challenges are identified to stimulate the on-going global debate. Finally, lessons learned to date concerning 6G networks are discussed.

Massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO)emerged as the leading technology for supporting fifth generation(5G) and beyond 5G cellular communication systems. Due to thetremendous increase in data traffic in urban areas and to meetsuch a significant demand, most studies consider macro/micro celldeployments in urban environments. Internet service providers(ISPs) are less interested in providing communication services inrural areas considering the relatively low profits compared to thedeployment and maintenance costs. In this paper, we investigatethe massive MIMO performance in rural scenarios. In particular,we investigate different aspects to consider while designing along-range communication system. We propose to use elevatedbase station (BS) with sectorized antennas with unusually largeaperture and implement a user scheduling algorithm at theBS to provide full digital coverage. We analyze the coveragerange of a massive MIMO system to provide high-rate services.Furthermore, we also analyze the link budget requirements andthe rates users can achieve in such a SuperCell massive MIMOnetwork.

In this paper, we work on channel estimationtechniques for massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) with Cauchy noise. In the standard massive MIMO setup, the users transmit orthonormal pilots during the training phase and the received signal in the base station is projected onto each orthonormal pilot signal. This process is optimum when the noise is Gaussian. In other words, the obtained signal after this processis the sufficient statistic and we do not lose any information. We show that this process is not optimum when the noise is Cauchy. Hence, we propose a channel estimation technique forthe unprocessed received signal. The proposed channel estimation technique is compared with the channel estimates that are obtained from the projected signal.

Reciprocity-based time-division duplex (TDD) Massive MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) systems utilize channel estimates obtained in the uplink to perform precoding in the downlink. However, this method has been criticized of breaking down, in the sense that the channel estimates are not good enough to spatially separate multiple user terminals, at low uplink reference signal signal-to-noise ratios, due to insufficient channel estimation quality. Instead, codebook-based downlink precoding has been advocated for as an alternative solution in order to bypass this problem. We analyze this problem by considering a “grid-of-beams world” with a finite number of possible downlink channel realizations. Assuming that the terminal accurately can detect the downlink channel, we show that in the case where reciprocity holds, carefully designing a mapping between the downlink channel and the uplink reference signals will perform better than both the conventional TDD Massive MIMO and frequency-division duplex (FDD) Massive MIMO approach. We derive elegant metrics for designing this mapping, and further, we propose algorithms that find good sequence mappings.

This letter considers the development of transmission strategies for the downlink of massive multiple-input multiple-output networks, with the objective of minimizing the completion time of the transmission. Specifically, we introduce a session-based scheme that splits time into sessions and allocates different rates in different sessions for the different users. In each session, one user is selected to complete its transmission and will not join subsequent sessions, which results in successively lower levels of interference when moving from one session to the next. An algorithm is developed to assign users and allocate transmit power that minimizes the completion time. Numerical results show that our proposed session-based scheme significantly outperforms conventional non-session-based schemes.

RadioWeaves network operates a large number ofdistributed antennas using cell-free architecture to provide highdata rates and support a large number of users. Operating thisnetwork in an energy-efficient manner in the limited availablespectrum is crucial. Therefore, we consider energy efficiency(EE) maximization of a RadioWeaves network that shares spectrumwith a collocated primary network in underlay mode.To simplify the problem, we lower bound the non-convex EEobjective function to form a convex problem. We then propose adownlink power allocation policy that maximizes the EE of thesecondary RadioWeaves network subject to power constraint ateach access point and interference constraint at each primaryuser. Our numerical results investigate the secondary system’sperformance in interference, power, and EE constrained regimeswith correlated fading channels. Furthermore, they show that theproposed power allocation scheme performs significantly betterthan the simpler equal power allocation scheme.

We provide the optimal receive combining strategy for federated learning in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. Our proposed algorithm allows the clients to perform individual gradient sparsification which greatly improves performance in scenarios with heterogeneous (non i.i.d.) training data. The proposed method beats the benchmark by a wide margin.

Deep learning (DL) is a powerful technique for many real-time applications, but it is vulnerable to adversarial attacks. Herein, we consider DL-based modulation classification, with the objective to create DL models that are robust against attacks. Specifically, we introduce three defense techniques: i) randomized smoothing, ii) hybrid projected gradient descent adversarial training, and iii) fast adversarial training, and evaluate them under both white-box (WB) and black-box (BB) attacks. We show that the proposed fast adversarial training is more robust and computationally efficient than the other techniques, and can create models that are extremely robust to practical (BB) attacks.