Channel Estimation Errors and Their Impact on Irregular Array Performance in Massive MIMO

Abstract

This paper considers the impact of imperfect channel state information (CSI) on the array antenna layout design in massive multiple-input multiple-output applications. The analysis is based on channel estimation errors resulting from the least squares estimation algorithm in pure line-of-sight channels. We show that signal to interference-plus-noise ratio gains traditionally anticipated with irregular layouts, as compared to regular ones under the assumption of perfect CSI, vanish in case of CSI imperfections for the considered scenario.