Recent trends and future directions in millimeter wave massive MIMO channel characterization at 30/60/140 GHz: a review
摘要
Currently, 5G technology is being implemented worldwide to meet the increasing demands of users. However, it is unable to fully achieve the projected growth in data traffic and high-end service quality for emerging applications and intelligent terminal devices. As a result, researchers are exploring other promising technologies and high-frequency bands for the next generation of cellular technology, known as beyond 5G (B5G) or 6G. Millimeter wave (mmWave) communications and Massive Multi-Input-Multi-Output (mMIMO) technology are receiving significant attention from the research community due to the availability of an extremely large frequency spectrum (30–300 GHz) and the ability of mMIMO to reduce propagation and absorption losses. This study provides a comprehensive survey of current achievements in mMIMO-mmWave communication systems, highlighting their benefits, challenges, and proposed solutions. It also describes the channel characterizations, recommended standards, and existing channel models at the 30/60/140 GHz bands, and presents a state-of-the-art comparison in terms of performance measures, parametric specifications, propagation losses, and methodologies for the measurement setup in different propagation environments. Additionally, the paper discusses the importance of beamforming and the challenges in realizing mMIMO communication systems.