FDD Channel Estimation via Covariance Identification in Wideband Massive MIMO Systems

TL;DR

This paper introduces a covariance-based channel estimation method for wideband massive MIMO systems that reduces training overhead and accounts for beam squint effects, applicable in FDD systems at sub-6GHz and mmWave bands.

Contribution

It presents a novel covariance identification approach that leverages the channel's slow covariance variation, enabling short training sequences and lower computational complexity.

Findings

Reduces training overhead significantly

Effective in both sub-6GHz and mmWave bands

Lower computational complexity than existing methods

Abstract

A method for channel estimation in wideband massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems using covariance identification is developed. The method is useful for Frequency-Division Duplex (FDD) at either sub-6GHz or millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency bands and takes into account the beam squint effect caused by the large bandwidth of the signals. The method relies on the slow time variation of the channel covariance matrix and allows for the utilization of very short training sequences thanks to the exploitation of the channel structure, both in the covariance matrix identification and the channel estimation stages. As a consequence of significantly reducing the training overhead, the proposed channel estimator has a computational complexity lower than other existing approaches.