An Analytical and Experimental Study of Distributed Uplink Beamforming in the Presence of Carrier Frequency Offsets

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zafari, Mehdi, Pandey, Divyanshu, Doost-Mohammady, Rahman
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866912829692444672
author Zafari, Mehdi
Pandey, Divyanshu
Doost-Mohammady, Rahman
author_facet Zafari, Mehdi
Pandey, Divyanshu
Doost-Mohammady, Rahman
contents Realizing distributed multi-user beamforming (D-MUBF) in time division duplex (TDD)-based multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) systems faces significant challenges. One of the most fundamental challenges is achieving accurate over-the-air (OTA) timing and frequency synchronization among distributed access points (APs), particularly due to residual frequency offsets caused by local oscillator (LO) drifts. Despite decades of research on synchronization for MU-MIMO, there are only a few experimental studies that evaluate D-MUBF techniques under imperfect frequency synchronization among distributed antennas. This paper presents an analytical and experimental assessment of D-MUBF methods in the presence of frequency synchronization errors. We provide closed-form expressions for signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) as a function of channel characteristics and statistical properties of carrier frequency offset (CFO) among AP antennas. In addition, through experimental evaluations conducted with the RENEW massive MIMO testbed, we collected comprehensive datasets across various experimental scenarios. These datasets comprise uplink pilot samples for channel and CFO estimation, in addition to uplink multi-user data intended for analyzing D-MUBF techniques. By examining these datasets, we assess the performance of D-MUBF in the presence of CFO and compare the analytical predictions with empirical measurements. Furthermore, we make the datasets publicly available and provide insights on utilizing them for future research endeavors.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_08506
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle An Analytical and Experimental Study of Distributed Uplink Beamforming in the Presence of Carrier Frequency Offsets
Zafari, Mehdi
Pandey, Divyanshu
Doost-Mohammady, Rahman
Signal Processing
Systems and Control
Realizing distributed multi-user beamforming (D-MUBF) in time division duplex (TDD)-based multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) systems faces significant challenges. One of the most fundamental challenges is achieving accurate over-the-air (OTA) timing and frequency synchronization among distributed access points (APs), particularly due to residual frequency offsets caused by local oscillator (LO) drifts. Despite decades of research on synchronization for MU-MIMO, there are only a few experimental studies that evaluate D-MUBF techniques under imperfect frequency synchronization among distributed antennas. This paper presents an analytical and experimental assessment of D-MUBF methods in the presence of frequency synchronization errors. We provide closed-form expressions for signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) as a function of channel characteristics and statistical properties of carrier frequency offset (CFO) among AP antennas. In addition, through experimental evaluations conducted with the RENEW massive MIMO testbed, we collected comprehensive datasets across various experimental scenarios. These datasets comprise uplink pilot samples for channel and CFO estimation, in addition to uplink multi-user data intended for analyzing D-MUBF techniques. By examining these datasets, we assess the performance of D-MUBF in the presence of CFO and compare the analytical predictions with empirical measurements. Furthermore, we make the datasets publicly available and provide insights on utilizing them for future research endeavors.
title An Analytical and Experimental Study of Distributed Uplink Beamforming in the Presence of Carrier Frequency Offsets
topic Signal Processing
Systems and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.08506