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Constant-εr Lens Beamformer for Low-Complexity Millimeter-Wave Hybrid MIMO

Abbasi, Muhammad Ali Babar ; Fusco, Vincent F ; Tataria, Harsh LU and Matthaiou, Michail (2019) In IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques 67(7). p.2894-2903
Abstract
It is well established that the utilization of unused millimeter-wave (mmWave) spectrum is inevitable due to unavailability of required bandwidth in the conventional RF band to support the high data demands of 5G. Large antenna arrays with beamforming capabilities are required to compensate for the high path loss at mmWave frequencies. We are at the verge of a massive mmWave radio front-end deployment, and low-complexity low-cost hardware beamforming solutions are required now at this stage than ever before. In this paper, one such solution is demonstrated and analyzed. A high-performance and low-complexity lens-based beamformer consisting of constant dielectric material ( ϵr ) with antenna feeds is presented for multibeam operation. A... (More)
It is well established that the utilization of unused millimeter-wave (mmWave) spectrum is inevitable due to unavailability of required bandwidth in the conventional RF band to support the high data demands of 5G. Large antenna arrays with beamforming capabilities are required to compensate for the high path loss at mmWave frequencies. We are at the verge of a massive mmWave radio front-end deployment, and low-complexity low-cost hardware beamforming solutions are required now at this stage than ever before. In this paper, one such solution is demonstrated and analyzed. A high-performance and low-complexity lens-based beamformer consisting of constant dielectric material ( ϵr ) with antenna feeds is presented for multibeam operation. A prototype is developed based on the classical synthesis approach, and in line with the requirements of mmWave hybrid multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) systems. A characterization at 28 GHz is performed wherein an uplink signal-to-noise ratio of user terminals is evaluated with the zero-forcing (ZF) baseband signal processing. Radiation performance of a single-source beamformer is measured in an anechoic environment, and end-to-end ergodic sum spectral efficiency performance is estimated based on the measured data. It is shown that the constant- ϵr -based beamformer solution is simple, yet significantly outperforms conventional antenna array beamformers with analog phase shifter networks, making it a promising candidate for future hybrid massive MIMO systems. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Beamforming, Lens, Millimeter-waves, MIMO, MU-MIMO, spectral efficiency, 5G
in
IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques
volume
67
issue
7
article number
8672826
pages
10 pages
publisher
IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
external identifiers
  • scopus:85068460524
ISSN
0018-9480
DOI
10.1109/TMTT.2019.2903790
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
To appear in the June 2019 Special Issue on 5G Hardware and System Technologies
id
12e7a37c-ed7c-4132-a758-9caf557a1f29
date added to LUP
2019-02-27 10:37:16
date last changed
2022-05-11 06:30:46
@article{12e7a37c-ed7c-4132-a758-9caf557a1f29,
  abstract     = {{It is well established that the utilization of unused millimeter-wave (mmWave) spectrum is inevitable due to unavailability of required bandwidth in the conventional RF band to support the high data demands of 5G. Large antenna arrays with beamforming capabilities are required to compensate for the high path loss at mmWave frequencies. We are at the verge of a massive mmWave radio front-end deployment, and low-complexity low-cost hardware beamforming solutions are required now at this stage than ever before. In this paper, one such solution is demonstrated and analyzed. A high-performance and low-complexity lens-based beamformer consisting of constant dielectric material ( ϵr ) with antenna feeds is presented for multibeam operation. A prototype is developed based on the classical synthesis approach, and in line with the requirements of mmWave hybrid multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) systems. A characterization at 28 GHz is performed wherein an uplink signal-to-noise ratio of user terminals is evaluated with the zero-forcing (ZF) baseband signal processing. Radiation performance of a single-source beamformer is measured in an anechoic environment, and end-to-end ergodic sum spectral efficiency performance is estimated based on the measured data. It is shown that the constant- ϵr -based beamformer solution is simple, yet significantly outperforms conventional antenna array beamformers with analog phase shifter networks, making it a promising candidate for future hybrid massive MIMO systems.}},
  author       = {{Abbasi, Muhammad Ali Babar and Fusco, Vincent F and Tataria, Harsh and Matthaiou, Michail}},
  issn         = {{0018-9480}},
  keywords     = {{Beamforming; Lens; Millimeter-waves; MIMO; MU-MIMO; spectral efficiency; 5G}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{7}},
  pages        = {{2894--2903}},
  publisher    = {{IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.}},
  series       = {{IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques}},
  title        = {{Constant-εr Lens Beamformer for Low-Complexity Millimeter-Wave Hybrid MIMO}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TMTT.2019.2903790}},
  doi          = {{10.1109/TMTT.2019.2903790}},
  volume       = {{67}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}