Methods for Finite Massive MIMO Analysis

Abstract

Massive MIMO is a core technology for 5G cellular networks, that matured from a concept to commercial implementations over the last decade. It uses large-scale antenna systems to provide unprecedented access to the spatial domain of the radio propagation environment. This allows to exchange information with multiple users in the same time-frequency resource. The work, summarised in this thesis, focuses on the performance of base stations with finite size antenna arrays. Specifically the service for non-average users is considered. To that extend, complete statistical distributions of the precoded or combined channel are used to describe the full performance range. The provided methods describe how the remaining small-scale fading can be quantified and compensated for. Moreover, an analysis of the gain gap between broadcast of synchronisation information and user-oriented traffic is provided. Even correlation between antenna elements based on their position, orientation and propagation environment can be considered. The results of this thesis enable insightful performance trade-offs of massive MIMO base stations in real world deployments.