Massive MIMO Systems for Communication and Localization

• Applicants: Professor Dr.-Ing. Robert Schober; Professor Dr.-Ing. Martin Vossiek; Professor Dr.-Ing. Robert Weigel
• Subject Area: Electronic Semiconductors, Components and Circuits, Integrated Systems, Sensor Technology, Theoretical Electrical Engineering
• Term: from 2014 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 259038323

Multiple-antenna technology is a key element of current and future wireless communication and localization systems. Traditionally, the number of antennas (each including an independent transceiver) envisioned for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication and localization systems has been limited to a comparatively small number, say 20 or less. However, recently, it has been shown that multiuser MIMO communication systems exhibit several favorable properties if the number of antennas at the base station is increased to hundreds or even thousands of antennas, giving rise to so-called large-scale or massive MIMO systems. Although a large amount of theoretical research has been dedicated to massive MIMO communication systems in the past two years, significant improvements in signal processing and signal design are still necessary before massive MIMO communication systems can be deployed in practice. Furthermore, while it is expected that the gains observed in massive MIMO communication systems carry over to localization problems, this issue has not been investigated yet. Moreover, the large number of antennas and coherent transceivers, and the large expected data rates require new approaches to circuit and system design for implementation of massive MIMO systems, since small-scale MIMO system architecures cannot simply be scaled up to massive MIMO systems. Furthermore, the validity of the commonly used MIMO system and channel models are put in question. Therefore, to arrive at meaningful results, channel measurements in realistic environments are necessary and existing models for hardware impairments have to be verified and possibly suitably modified. These considerations underline the necessity of a flexible MIMO testbed for optimization and verification of theoretical results. Thus, in this project, we will take a holistic approach to massive MIMO system design bringing together our collective expertise in signal processing and communication (Institute for Digital Communications, IDC, Schober), localization and antenna design (Institute for Microwaves and Photonics, LHFT, Vossiek), and transceiver design and implementation (Institute for Technical Electronics, LTE, Weigel). The proposed project has the following four specific objectives: 1) Development of computationally efficient, secure, robust, and high performance precoding and detection strategies.2) Design of antennas with very stable phase characteristic.3) Development of novel synchronization protocols, multipath separation algorithms, and localization techniques. 4) Development of circuit and system architectures enabling the implementation of massive MIMO systems.Objectives 1)-4) will be achieved through both theoretical research and implementation/verification of the developed algorithms, circuits, and system architectures in a massive MIMO testbed.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants