MIMO6G 2022 : Special Issue : Cell-Free Ultra Massive MIMO in 6G and Beyond Networks

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, multiple antenna technologies have received considerable attentio from both industry and academia, given that they can provide high coverage probability, spatial multiplexing, and macroscopic diversity. To provide ubiquitous wireless connectivity and achieve orders-of-magnitude improvements in these metrics, the new paradigm shifts away from the transitional massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), cell-free ultra massive MIMO and intelligent reflecting surfaces (IRSs) at the physical layer are expected to achieve this goal. This is because the cell-free ultra massive MIMO technology can effectively avoid excessive inter-cell handover, reduce the effect of detrimental shading, and depress the control signaling interaction. Furthermore, IRSs can dynamically and proactively revize the wireless transmission channel between themselves via highly controllable and intelligent signal reflection. Thus, this combination can provide a new reconfigurable environment to further enhance the wireless communication performance, and this paves the way to realizing a smart and programmable wireless environment. However, several issues must be studied and resolved in the design of practical and efficient cell-free ultra massive MIMO systems, since traditional solutions cannot be used. In this Special Issue, we are interested in high-quality submissions that mainly highlight the emerging cell-free ultra massive MIMOs for future wireless networks.

The potential topics of submissions include, but are not limited to,

channel modeling;
characterization;
signal processing and estimation for B5G/6G Ultra massive MIMOs;
cell-free massive MIMOs;
cloud-RAN cooperative cell-free massive schemes;
wireless communications through reconfigurable intelligent surfaces;
AI;
deep learning;
machine learning for wireless communications;
performance analysis and simulations for integrated networks;
content caching and storage in wireless networks;
energy-efficient and energy-harvesting PHY layer design;
simultaneous wireless information and power transfer;
full duplexing;
PHY layer security and privacy;
ultra-wideband;
mmWave and sub-THz communication for integrated networks;
information-theoretic aspects of wireless communications;

Dr. Chunguo Li
Guest Editor