Asymptotic Coverage Probability and Rate in Massive MIMO Networks

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the asymptotic coverage probability and data rate of massive MIMO networks with randomly distributed base stations, demonstrating significant performance improvements despite pilot contamination.

Contribution

It provides the first analytical expressions for asymptotic coverage and rate in massive MIMO within random cellular networks with Poisson base station distributions.

Findings

Massive MIMO achieves higher asymptotic data rates than single-antenna networks.

Pilot contamination limits the maximum achievable performance.

Analytical expressions are derived for both uplink and downlink scenarios.

Abstract

Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) is a transmission technique for cellular systems that uses many antennas to support not-as-many users. Thus far, the performance of massive MIMO has only been examined in finite cellular networks. In this letter, we analyze its performance in random cellular networks with Poisson distributed base station locations. Specifically, we provide analytical expressions for the asymptotic coverage probability and rate in both downlink and uplink when each base station has a large number of antennas. The results show that, though limited by pilot contamination, massive MIMO can provide significantly higher asymptotic data rate per user than the single-antenna network.