Deep Learning for Estimation and Pilot Signal Design in Few-Bit Massive MIMO Systems

TL;DR

This paper introduces a deep learning framework for channel estimation, data detection, and pilot signal design in few-bit MIMO systems, effectively addressing nonlinear distortions caused by low-resolution ADCs.

Contribution

It presents a model-driven deep learning approach that jointly optimizes channel estimation and pilot signals, leveraging system models and domain knowledge for improved performance.

Findings

Significant improvement in estimation accuracy with the proposed method.

Joint optimization of pilot signals and channel estimation enhances system performance.

Deep learning framework outperforms traditional approaches in few-bit MIMO systems.

Abstract

Estimation in few-bit MIMO systems is challenging, since the received signals are nonlinearly distorted by the low-resolution ADCs. In this paper, we propose a deep learning framework for channel estimation, data detection, and pilot signal design to address the nonlinearity in such systems. The proposed channel estimation and data detection networks are model-driven and have special structures that take advantage of the domain knowledge in the few-bit quantization process. While the first data detection network, namely B-DetNet, is based on a linearized model obtained from the Bussgang decomposition, the channel estimation network and the second data detection network, namely FBM-CENet and FBM-DetNet respectively, rely on the original quantized system model. To develop FBM-CENet and FBM-DetNet, the maximum-likelihood channel estimation and data detection problems are reformulated to overcome the vanishing gradient issue. An important feature of the proposed FBM-CENet structure is that the pilot matrix is integrated into its weight matrices of the channel estimator. Thus, training the proposed FBM-CENet enables a joint optimization of both the channel estimator at the base station and the pilot signal transmitted from the users. Simulation results show significant performance gain in estimation accuracy by the proposed deep learning framework.