Channel AoA Estimation for Massive MIMO Systems Using One-Bit ADCs

Abstract

Although massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) can enhance the overall system performance significantly, it could suffer from high cost and power consumption issues due to using a large number of radio frequency (RF) chains. Two different approaches are commonly exploited to overcome these issues. The first approach is using hybrid beamforming, which consists of analog and digital beamforming, to reduce the total number of RF chains. The second approach is adopting low-resolution analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) for each RF chain. For both approaches, channel estimation becomes a difficult task. This paper addresses the problem of channel angle of arrival (AoA) estimation in massive MIMO using both hybrid beamforming and one-bit magnitude-aided (OMA) ADCs. An iterative algorithm is developed to estimate the channel AoA, and the appropriate threshold per iteration is analyzed. Numerical results show that the proposed technique can achieve sufficient AoA estimation performance with practical values of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).