Use of 1‐bit digital‐to‐analogue converters in massive MIMO systems

Abstract

Massive multiple‐input multiple‐output (MIMO) systems are being proposed for next generation broadband wireless systems. However, as the complexity of implementation grows with the number of antenna elements, their feasibility is a challenging task. Consider very low complexity, 1‐bit digital‐to‐analogue converters (DACs) for the downlink of massive MIMO systems. The impact of the resultant severe non‐linear distortion effects is analysed when a low‐complexity maximum ratio transmission technique is employed for user separation. The non‐linear distortion levels decrease with the number of transmit antennas allowing good performance, even with 1‐bit DACs are shown.

Keywords

• digital‐to‐analogue converters
• massive MIMO systems
• multiple‐input multiple‐output systems
• nonlinear distortion effects
• low‐complexity maximum ratio transmission technique
• transmit antennas