Cell-Free Massive MIMO: A New Next-Generation Paradigm

TLDR

Cell‑free massive MIMO deploys many distributed antennas to simultaneously serve a few UEs, promising uniform quality of service with low‑complexity processing. This survey quantifies CF massive MIMO’s energy and cost advantages, reviews its key benefits, and identifies open deployment and network‑management challenges. The paper analyzes channel hardening, favorable propagation, and fronthaul‑saving signal‑processing techniques for joint channel estimation and precoding.

Abstract

Cell-free (CF) massive multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) systems have a large number of individually controllable antennas distributed over a wide area for simultaneously serving a small number of user equipments (UEs). This solution has been considered as a promising next-generation technology due to its ability to offer a similar quality of service to all UEs despite its low-complexity signal processing. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey of CF massive MIMO systems. To be more specific, the benefit of the so-called channel hardening and the favorable propagation conditions are exploited. Furthermore, we quantify the advantages of CF massive MIMO systems in terms of their energy- and cost-efficiency. Additionally, the signal processing techniques invoked for reducing the fronthaul burden for joint channel estimation and for transmit precoding are analyzed. Finally, the open research challenges in both its deployment and network management are highlighted.