M-Cube: a millimeter-wave massive MIMO software radio
M-Cube: a millimeter-wave massive MIMO software radio
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DOI：
10.1145/3372224.3380892
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发表时间：
2020-04
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Renjie Zhao;Timothy Woodford;Teng Wei;Kun Qian;Xinyu Zhang
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文献类型：
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作者：
Renjie Zhao;Timothy Woodford;Teng Wei;Kun Qian;Xinyu Zhang
毫米波（mmWave）技术代表了新兴无线网络基础设施以及安全、健康和汽车领域的RF传感系统的基石。通过具有数百个天线元件的相控阵列的MIMO阵列，mmWave可以将无线比特率提高到100+ Gbps，并有可能实现近视觉传感分辨率。然而，缺乏实验平台一直阻碍着这一领域的研究。本文采用首款毫米波大规模MIMO软件无线电M3（M-Cube）填补了这一差距。M3具有完全可重新配置的相控阵列阵列，最多有8个RF链和288个天线元件。尽管天线阵列的数量级更大，但其成本却低了几个数量级，即使与最先进的单RF链毫米波软件无线电相比。M3背后的关键设计原则是劫持低成本的802.11ad无线电，分离内部的控制路径和数据路径，重新生成相控阵控制信号，并使用可编程基带重新创建数据信号。大量实验证明了M3设计的有效性及其对毫米波大规模MIMO通信和传感研究的有用性。
Millimeter-wave (mmWave) technologies represent a cornerstone for emerging wireless network infrastructure, and for RF sensing systems in security, health, and automotive domains. Through a MIMO array of phased arrays with hundreds of antenna elements, mmWave can boost wireless bit-rates to 100+ Gbps, and potentially achieve near-vision sensing resolution. However, the lack of an experimental platform has been impeding research in this field. This paper fills the gap with M3 (M-Cube), the first mmWave massive MIMO software radio. M3 features a fully reconfigurable array of phased arrays, with up to 8 RF chains and 288 antenna elements. Despite the orders of magnitude larger antenna arrays, its cost is orders of magnitude lower, even when compared with state-of-the-art single RF chain mmWave software radios. The key design principle behind M3 is to hijack a low-cost commodity 802.11ad radio, separate the control path and data path inside, regenerate the phased array control signals, and recreate the data signals using a programmable baseband. Extensive experiments have demonstrated the effectiveness of the M3 design, and its usefulness for research in mmWave massive MIMO communication and sensing.