RSS map-assisted MIMO channel estimation in the upper mid-band under pilot constraints

TL;DR

This paper introduces a physics-informed neural network framework that combines model-based and data-driven methods to improve MIMO channel estimation in the upper mid-band, especially under pilot constraints, with enhanced accuracy and interpretability.

Contribution

It proposes a novel PINN architecture with transformer modules for improved channel estimation using RSS maps, extending to multi-step prediction, and demonstrating superior performance in realistic urban scenarios.

Findings

Achieves over 5 dB NMSE gain compared to state-of-the-art methods.

Performs robustly across different frequencies and environments with minimal fine-tuning.

Enables accurate multi-step channel prediction for proactive beamforming.

Abstract

Accurate wireless channel estimation is critical for next-generation wireless systems, enabling precise precoding for effective user separation, reduced interference across cells, and high-resolution sensing, among other benefits. Traditional model-based channel estimation methods suffer, however, from performance degradation in complex environments with a limited number of pilots, while purely data-driven approaches lack physical interpretability, require extensive data collection, and are usually site-specific. This paper presents a novel physics-informed neural network (PINN) framework that synergistically combines model-based channel estimation with a deep network to exploit prior information about environmental propagation characteristics and achieve superior performance under pilot-constrained scenarios. The proposed approach employs an enhanced U-Net architecture with transformer modules and cross-attention mechanisms to fuse initial channel estimates with RSS maps to provide refined channel estimates. Comprehensive evaluation using realistic ray-tracing data from urban environments demonstrates significant performance improvements, achieving over 5 dB gain in NMSE compared to state-of-the-art methods, with particularly strong performance in pilot-limited scenarios and robustness across different frequencies and environments with only minimal fine-tuning. We further extend the decoder for multi-step temporal prediction, enabling accurate forecasting of several future channel snapshots from a single estimate, useful for proactive beamforming and scheduling in mobile scenarios. The proposed framework maintains practical computational complexity, making it viable for massive MIMO systems in upper-mid band frequencies. Unlike black-box neural approaches, the physics-informed design provides a more interpretable channel estimation method.