journal article
Open Access Collection
Max-Min Optimal Beamforming for Cell-Free Massive MIMO
Zhou, Andong;Wu, Jingxian;Larsson, Erik G.;Fan, Pingzhi
doi: 10.1109/LCOMM.2020.3000067pmid: N/A
Abstract: This letter develops an optimum beamforming method for downlink transmissions in cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, which employ a massive number of distributed access points to provide concurrent services to multiple users. The optimum design is formulated as a max-min problem that maximizes the minimum signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio of all users. It is shown analytically that the problem is quasi-concave, and the optimum solution is obtained with the second-order cone programming. The proposed method identifies the best achievable beamforming performance in cell-free massive MIMO systems. The results can be used as benchmarks for the design of practical low complexity beamformers.