Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Cell-Free Massive MIMO

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Wireless Networks

Synonyms

Cell-less massive MIMO

Definition

Cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) is a system comprising a very large number of access points (hundreds or thousands of access points) and a relatively smaller number of active users (tens or hundreds of users) distributed over a large area. The access points use directly measured channel characteristics to jointly serve all users in the same time-frequency band. There are no cells or cell boundaries.

Historical Background

Conventional mobile networks are based on cellular structure where a coverage area is divided into cells, and each cell is served by one access point/base station. These networks are called “cellular wireless networks.” We have seen many revolutions related to the cellular wireless network since its first trial was introduced in the 1970s (Young, 1979). Intercell interference is one of the inherent limitations of cellular networks. In particular, users at the cell boundaries perform badly due to the...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Bashar M, Cumanan K, Burr AG, Debbah M, Ngo HQ (2018) Cell-free massive MIMO with limited backhaul. In: Proceedings of IEEE international conference on communications (ICC), Beijing

    Google Scholar 

  • Buzzi S, D’Andrea C (2017) Cell-free massive MIMO: User-centric approach. IEEE Wireless Commun Lett 6(6):706–709. https://doi.org/10.1109/LWC.2017.2734893

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen Z, Björnson E (2017) Channel hardening and favorable propagation in cell-free Massive MIMO with stochastic geometry. CoRR abs/1710.00395. http://arxiv.org/abs/1710.00395

  • Huang Q, Burr A (2017) Compute-and-forward in cell-free massive MIMO: Great Performance with Low backhaul load. In: Proceedings of IEEE international conference on communications (ICC), Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Interdonato G, Ngo HQ, Larsson EG, Frenger P (2016) How much do downlink pilots improve cell-free massive MIMO? In: IEEE global communications conference (GLOBECOM), pp 1–7. https://doi.org/0.1109/GLOCOM.2016.7841875

  • Nayebi E, Ashikhmin A, Marzetta TL, Yang H, Rao BD (2017) Precoding and power optimization in cell-free massive MIMO systems. IEEE Trans Wireless Commun 16(7):4445–4459

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ngo HQ, Ashikhmin AE, Yang H, Larsson EG, Marzetta TL (2015) Cell-free massive MIMO: Uniformly great service for everyone. In: Proceedings of IEEE SPAWC, Stockholm, Sweden

    Google Scholar 

  • Ngo HQ, Ashikhmin A, Yang H, Larsson EG, Marzetta TL (2017) Cell-free massive MIMO versus small cells. IEEE Trans Wireless Commun 16(3):1834–1850

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ngo HQ, Tran LN, Duong TQ, Matthaiou M, Larsson EG (2018) On the total energy efficiency of cell-free massive MIMO. IEEE Trans Green Commun Netw 1(2):25–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nguyen LD, Duong TQ, Ngo HQ, Tourki K (2017) Energy efficiency in cell-free massive MIMO with zero-forcing precoding design. IEEE Commun Lett 8(21):1871–1874

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shamai S, Zaidel BM (2001) Enhancing the cellular downlink capacity via co-processing at the transmitting end. In: Proceedings of IEEE VTC-Spring, vol 3, Atlantic City, pp 1745–1749

    Google Scholar 

  • Young WR (1979) Advanced mobile phone service: introduction, background, and objectives. Bell Syst Tech J 58(1):1–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang J, Wei Y, Björnson E, Han Y, Li X (2017) Spectral and energy efficiency of cell-free massive MIMO systems with hardware impairments. In: Proceedings of international conference on wireless communications and signal processing (WCSP), Nanjing

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK

    Hien Quoc Ngo

Authors
  1. Hien Quoc Ngo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hien Quoc Ngo .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo , Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    Xuemin (Sherman) Shen

  2. Faculty of Business and Information Technology, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada

    Xiaodong Lin

  3. Dpt.of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Omaha, Nebraska, USA

    Kuan Zhang

Section Editor information

  1. School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Wei Zhang

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Ngo, H.Q. (2018). Cell-Free Massive MIMO. In: Shen, X., Lin, X., Zhang, K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Wireless Networks. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32903-1_137-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32903-1_137-1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-32903-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-32903-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Computer SciencesReference Module Computer Science and Engineering

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation