Massive MIMO for 5G Communications
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bristol
Department Name: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Abstract
Fifth generation (5G) wireless communication has attracted tremendous research attention recently. As a key technology for 5G wireless communications, massive MIMO makes use of large-scale antenna arrays in either the transmitter, receiver, or both of them. The large antenna array gain will boost the received signal power drastically thus provide enhanced coverage. The channels obtained by the massive MIMO antenna array have very different characteristics from the conventional channel in many aspects. Algorithms selecting and driving these subarrays offer the potential advantage of balancing cost and performance for massive MIMO communication.
This project will focus on first identifying the current state-of-the art theory, implementations and challenges. Novel architectures and algorithms will then be investigated to relax current requirements on the number of RF chains, size and number of subarrays.
This project will focus on first identifying the current state-of-the art theory, implementations and challenges. Novel architectures and algorithms will then be investigated to relax current requirements on the number of RF chains, size and number of subarrays.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Angela Doufexi (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Alfred (Fred) Wiffen (Student) |
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP/P510427/1 | 01/10/2016 | 31/12/2021 | |||
| 1791039 | Studentship | EP/P510427/1 | 01/10/2015 | 30/09/2019 | Alfred (Fred) Wiffen |
| Description | 1. One major obstacle to widespread implementation of massive MIMO technology in 5G systems is the large number of power amplifiers required at the base station. As part of this research, a low complexity scheme for reducing the power requirements of these power amplifiers has been developed, which allows power reductions to be efficiently traded-off against performance. 2. Future cellular networks will make greater use of distributed MIMO technology, in which base station receivers and transmitters will be distributed around an area, and co-operate to give uniform coverage. A practical challenge with this is the amount of data that must be transferred between the distributed nodes and a central processor. For this work, a number of low complexity schemes have been proposed for compressing this data and significantly reducing the required bandwidth. |
| Exploitation Route | Both of these ideas will be of interest to other researchers and OEMs. |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Electronics |
| Description | BT Massive MIMO Partnership |
| Organisation | BT Group |
| Department | BT Research |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Participated in joint field trials of massive MIMO testbed at BT's Adastral Park. Gave tutorial on massive MIMO to BT staff on visit to Bristol University. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Assisted with organisation and execution of field tests. |
| Impact | Winner of C2I 'Collaborate to Innovate Award' 2017 |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Toshiba Telecommunications Research Laboratory |
| Organisation | Toshiba Research Europe Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Toshiba provide sponsorship of the PhD through the CDT, and hence all PhD research forms part of this project. My input consists of the theoretical and practical work that makes up the PhD, along with providing updates to Toshiba through (roughly) weekly meetings, biannual written reports, and presentations. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Toshiba provide funding to the PhD and technical input to the research. Weekly meetings between myself and industrial supervisor at Toshiba, Zubeir Bocus, are used to discuss research ideas. Support is also given in solving technical problems, and jointly writing publications. |
| Impact | 3 co-authored conference papers (2 published, 1 accepted) |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | 5G UK Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Participated in 5G UK public demonstrations, funded by DCMS, assisting in setting up and demonstrating massive MIMO testbed to public. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.bristol.ac.uk/engineering/research/smart/events/layered-realities-weekend/ |
| Description | Baths Taps Science Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Helped plan and run a stall at large science fair aimed at pupils aged 8-12. Stall had multiple hands on experiments/activities designed to educate and inspire children to take an interest in engineering and communications. Sixth form pupils from a local school assisted in running the stall, who we trained in preparation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Workshops |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Have planned and run a number of workshops for high school age pupils, targeted at those from disadvantage socio-economic backgrounds, with the aim of inspiring them to take an interest in engineering. These workshops involved an interactive presentation about the history and purpose of ICT, and an activity, in which pupils had to come up with their own idea for an Internet of Things technology. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017 |