Massive multiple-input multiple-output - orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) systems face the challenge of high channel acquisition overhead while providing significant spectral efficiency (SE). Adjustable phase shift pilots (APSPs) are an effective technique to acquire channels with low overhead by exploiting channel sparsity. In this paper, we extend it to multiple groups and propose multi-group adjustable phase shift pilots (MAPSPs) to improve SE further. We first introduce a massive MIMO-OFDM system model and transform the conventional channel model in the space-frequency domain to the angle-delay domain, obtaining a sparse channel matrix. Then, we propose a method of generating MAPSPs through multiple basic sequences and investigate channel estimation processes. By analyzing the components of pilot interference, we elucidate the underlying mechanism by which interference affects MMSE estimation. Building upon this foundation, we demonstrate the benefit of phase scheduling in MAPSP channel estimation and establish the optimal design condition tailored for scheduling. Furthermore, we propose an implementation scheme based on Zadoff-Chu sequences that includes received signal pre-processing and pilot scheduling methods to mitigate pilot interference. Simulation results indicate that the MAPSP method achieves a lower mean square error (MSE) of estimation than APSP and significantly enhances SE in mobility scenarios.

The advancement of 6G mobile communication and positioning technologies has amplified the significance of location-aware tools, such as location-indexed channel fingerprints (CFs) and channel charting, which are becoming key enablers for massive MIMO-OFDM systems. In this paper, we propose a novel channel charting with physical CFs (PCFs) and demonstrate its effectiveness in channel state information (CSI) acquisition. First, we define the PCF based on a cluster-based geometric stochastic channel model (GBSM), enabling a comprehensive representation of physical channel characteristics using a compact set of parameters. We then develop a methodology for PCF acquisition in massive MIMO-OFDM systems. By exploiting the relationship between PCFs and the space-frequency-time (SFT) domain channel, the proposed method extracts PCFs from multi-location channel measurements and constructs a structured channel charting with location-indexed PCFs. Furthermore, we propose a low-complexity algorithm to acquire beam domain statistical CSI (sCSI) using the PCFs in the channel charting. The resulting sCSI can be directly employed as prior information for channel estimation. Simulation results show that the proposed method delivers sCSI performance comparable to traditional online probing techniques, and the generated sCSI can serve as reliable prior knowledge to significantly enhance the accuracy of channel estimation. These results validate the proposed PCF as a powerful and versatile tool for channel acquisition and system design of the next-generation mobile communication.

With the widespread application of location-based services, fingerprint-based localization has demonstrated advantages in environments with complex signal propagation. Deep learning has significantly improved the efficiency of both offline training and online matching in localization processes. However, existing fingerprints only contain terminal position information without capturing motion states, and neural network designs have not fully incorporated structural features such as fingerprint sparsity. In this paper, we propose a triple-beam fingerprint (TBF) incorporating Doppler information and design a Transformer-based localization and orientation awareness network (LOA-Net) to simultaneously estimate user position and motion direction in massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. We first show the correlation between TBF and multipath information, and investigate the collinearity of different TBFs, demonstrating that TBF is an effective small-size sparse fingerprint. Then, we propose LOA-Net containing a mask-augmented detection Transformer for regression (MaskDETR-Reg) module and a fusion-enhanced Transformer for direction classification (Fusion-TDC) module to process angle-delay domain information and Doppler domain information, respectively. Finally, in the simulation of indoor scenarios defined in 3GPP 38.901, the proposed method achieves significantly better localization accuracy than weighted$K$-nearest neighbors (WKNN), 2D and 3D convolutional neural networks (CNNs), and achieves satisfactory motion direction estimation accuracy.

Estimating massive multiple-input multiple-output - orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) channels with low pilot overhead presents a significant challenge. Leveraging channel sparsity and pilot argument information (PAI), we propose a multi-group adjustable phase shift pilot (MAPSP) channel estimation method aimed at reducing pilot overhead. We first introduce a sparse channel model in angle-delay domain. Then, we propose the approach of generating phase shift pilots by dividing user terminals (UT) into groups and explore channel estimation based on the sparse channel model. We demonstrate that pilot interference can be mitigated by phase scheduling and received signal pre-processing. Capitalizing on this property, we propose a MAPSP implementation scheme. Simulation results indicate that the proposed MAPSP technique achieves a lower mean square error (MSE) of estimation than APSP and significantly enhances spectral efficiency.

Multi-band massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication can promote the cooperation of licensed and unlicensed spectra, effectively enhancing spectrum efficiency for Wi-Fi and other wireless systems. As an enabler for multi-band transmission, channel fingerprints (CF), also known as the channel knowledge map or radio environment map, are used to assist channel state information (CSI) acquisition and reduce computational complexity. In this paper, we propose CF-CGN (Channel Fingerprints with Cycle-consistent Generative Networks) to extrapolate CF for multi-band massive MIMO transmission where licensed and unlicensed spectra cooperate to provide ubiquitous connectivity. Specifically, we first model CF as a multichannel image and transform the extrapolation problem into an image translation task, which converts CF from one frequency to another by exploring the shared characteristics of statistical CSI in the beam domain. Then, paired generative networks are designed and coupled by variable-weight cycle consistency losses to fit the reciprocal relationship at different bands. Matched with the coupled networks, a joint training strategy is developed accordingly, supporting synchronous optimization of all trainable parameters. During the inference process, we also introduce a refining scheme to improve the extrapolation accuracy based on the resolution of CF. Numerical results illustrate that our proposed CF-CGN can achieve bidirectional extrapolation with an error of 5 ∼ 17 dB lower than the benchmarks in different communication scenarios, demonstrating its excellent generalization ability. We further show that the sum rate performance assisted by CF-CGN-based CF is close to that with perfect CSI for multi-band massive MIMO transmission.

In this paper, we propose a channel acquisition approach with time-frequency phase-shifted pilots (TFPSPs) for massive multi-input multi-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) systems. We first present a triple-beam (TB) based channel tensor model, allowing for the representation of the space-frequency-time (SFT) domain channel as the product of beam matrices and the TB domain channel tensor. By leveraging the specific characteristics of TB domain channels, we develop TFPSPs, where distinct pilot signals are simultaneously transmitted in the frequency and time domains. Then, we present the optimal TFPSP design and provide the corresponding pilot scheduling algorithm. Further, we propose a tensor-based information geometry approach (IGA) to estimate the TB domain channel tensors. Leveraging the specific structure of beam matrices and the properties of TFPSPs, we propose a low-complexity implementation of the tensor-based IGA. We validate the efficiency of our proposed channel acquisition approach through extensive simulations. Simulation results demonstrate the superior performance of our approach. The proposed approach can effectively suppress inter-UT interference with low complexity and limited pilot overhead, thereby enhancing channel estimation performance. Particularly in scenarios with a large number of UTs, the channel acquisition method outperforms existing approaches by reducing the normalized mean square error (NMSE) by more than 8 dB.

Multi-frequency massive multi-input multi-output (MIMO) communication is a promising strategy for both 5G and future 6G systems, ensuring reliable transmission while enhancing frequency resource utilization. Statistical channel state information (CSI) has been widely adopted in multi-frequency massive MIMO transmissions to reduce overhead and improve transmission performance. In this paper, we propose efficient and accurate methods for obtaining statistical CSI in multi-frequency massive MIMO systems. First, we introduce a multi-frequency massive MIMO channel model and analyze the mapping relationship between two types of statistical CSI, namely the angular power spectrum (APS) and the spatial covariance matrix, along with their correlation across different frequency bands. Next, we propose an autoregressive (AR) method to predict the spatial covariance matrix of any frequency band based on that of another frequency band. Furthermore, we emphasize that channels across different frequency bands share similar APS characteristics. Leveraging the maximum entropy (ME) criterion, we develop a low-complexity algorithm for high-resolution APS estimation. Simulation results validate the effectiveness of the AR-based covariance prediction method and demonstrate the highresolution estimation capability of the ME-based approach. Furthermore, we demonstrate the effectiveness of multi-frequency cooperative transmission by applying the proposed methods to obtain statistical CSI from low-frequency bands and utilizing it for high-frequency channel transmission. This approach significantly enhances high-frequency transmission performance while effectively reducing system overhead.

In this paper, we propose time-frequency phase-shifted pilots (TFPSPs) for massive multi-input multi-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) channel estimation. We first present a triple-beam (TB) based channel model, establishing the relationship between the space-frequency-time (SFT) domain channel and the TB domain channel. By leveraging the specific characteristics of TB domain channels, we develop TFPSPs, where distinct pilot signals are simultaneously transmitted in the frequency and time domains. Then, we present the optimal condition on TFPSP, indicating that the optimal channel estimation performance can be achieved if the TB domain channel power distributions of different UTs do not overlap with each other by scheduling TFPSPs properly. Based on this optimal condition, we propose a low-complexity pilot scheduling algorithm. Simulation results demonstrate that, compared with conventional pilot design approaches, the proposed TFPSP approach effectively improves the accuracy of channel estimation, particularly in scenarios involving a significant number of UTs.

Multi-frequency communication is a potential strategy to overcome the limitations caused by frequency scarcity. This paper investigates the acquisition of statistical channel state information (CSI) in multi-frequency systems. We first analyze the multi-frequency channel model and reveal the relationship between spatial covariance matrices of different frequency bands. Based on the relationship, we propose a linear autoregressive (AR) method, directly establishing the mapping relationship of covariance elements between different frequency bands. In addition, with the acquired spatial covariance, we estimate APS with the maximum entropy (ME) criterion and use it to benefit downlink transmission. Simulation results verify the accuracy of the AR spatial covariance extrapolation method and show that the ME method can estimate APS with high resolution. Meanwhile, the results validate that the estimated statistical CSI can aid the realization of multi-frequency cooperative robust transmission.