Impact of Low-Resolution ADC on DOA Estimation Performance for Massive MIMO Receive Array

TL;DR

This paper investigates how low-resolution ADCs affect DOA estimation in massive MIMO arrays, analyzing performance loss and demonstrating that 2-3 bits of resolution are sufficient for minimal performance degradation.

Contribution

It introduces a new analysis of low-resolution ADC impact on DOA estimation, deriving a closed-form CRLB and validating that 2-3 bits suffice for effective performance.

Findings

Root-MUSIC achieves CRLB with low-resolution ADCs

2-3 bits of ADC resolution cause only 1dB performance loss

Low-resolution ADCs offer a cost-effective solution for massive MIMO

Abstract

In this paper, we present a new scenario of direction of arrival (DOA) estimation using massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) receive array with low-resolution analog-to-digital convertors (ADCs), which can strike a good balance between performance and circuit cost. Based on the linear additive quantization noise model (AQNM), the effect of low-resolution ADCs on the methods, such as Root-MUSIC method, is analyzed. Also, the closed-form expression of Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) is derived to evaluate the performance loss caused by the low-resolution ADCs. The simulation results show that the Root-MUSIC methods can achieve the corresponding CRLB. Furthermore, 2-3 bits are acceptable for most applications if the 1dB performance loss.