5G millimeter wave cellular system capacity with fully digital beamforming

Sourjya Dutta, C. Nicolas Barati, Aditya Dhananjay, Sundeep Rangan

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Due to heavy reliance of millimeter-wave (mmWave) wireless systems on directional links, Beamforming (BF) with high-dimensional arrays is essential for cellular systems in these frequencies. How to perform the array processing in a power efficient manner is a fundamental challenge. Analog and hybrid BF require fewer analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), but can only communicate in a small number of directions at a time, limiting directional search, spatial multiplexing and control signaling. Digital BF enables flexible spatial processing, but must be operated at a low quantization resolution to stay within reasonable power levels. This paper presents a simple additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) model to assess the effect of low-resolution quantization of cellular system capacity. Simulations with this model reveal that at moderate resolutions (3-4 bits per ADC), there is negligible loss in downlink cellular capacity from quantization. In essence, the low-resolution ADCs limit the high SNR, where cellular systems typically do not operate. The findings suggest that low-resolution fully digital BF architectures can be power efficient, offer greatly enhanced control plane functionality and comparable data plane performance to analog BF.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationConference Record of 51st Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems and Computers, ACSSC 2017
EditorsMichael B. Matthews
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages1224-1228
Number of pages5
ISBN (Electronic)9781538618233
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2 2017
Event51st Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems and Computers, ACSSC 2017 - Pacific Grove, United States
Duration: Oct 29 2017Nov 1 2017

Publication series

NameConference Record of 51st Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems and Computers, ACSSC 2017
Volume2017-October

Other

Other51st Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems and Computers, ACSSC 2017
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityPacific Grove
Period10/29/1711/1/17

Keywords

  • 5G
  • Millimeter waves
  • beamforming
  • quantization
  • wireless communications

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Control and Optimization
  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Hardware and Architecture
  • Signal Processing
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Instrumentation

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