Optimal pilot length for uplink massive MIMO systems with pilot reuse

Abstract

We investigate the achievable uplink rate of multi-cell massive multi-input multi-output (MIMO) systems considering pilot reuse across cells. Based on tractable approximations for the achievable rates, we derive the optimal pilot length to maximize the sum rate per cell. Interestingly, it is found that, for moderately large numbers of base station (BS) antennas, the optimal pilot length is above the minimum feasible value, and the gains brought by the extra amount of training diminish as the reuse factor grows. Simulation results confirm the accuracy of our analysis.