Performance Analysis of Digital Beamforming mmWave MIMO with Low-Resolution DACs/ADCs

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Pasic, Faruk, Mussbah, Mariam, Schwarz, Stefan, Rupp, Markus, Tufvesson, Fredrik, Mecklenbräuker, Christoph F.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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_version_ 1866918299632140288
author Pasic, Faruk
Mussbah, Mariam
Schwarz, Stefan
Rupp, Markus
Tufvesson, Fredrik
Mecklenbräuker, Christoph F.
author_facet Pasic, Faruk
Mussbah, Mariam
Schwarz, Stefan
Rupp, Markus
Tufvesson, Fredrik
Mecklenbräuker, Christoph F.
contents Future wireless communications will rely on multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) beamforming operating at millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency bands to deliver high data rates. To support flexible spatial processing and meet the demands of latency critical applications, it is essential to use fully digital mmWave MIMO beamforming, which relies on accurate channel estimation. However, ensuring power efficiency in fully digital mmWave MIMO systems requires the use of low-resolution digital-to-analog converters (DACs) and analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). The reduced resolution of these quantizers introduces distortion in both transmitted and received signals, ultimately degrading system performance. In this paper, we investigate the channel estimation performance of mmWave MIMO systems employing fully digital beamforming with low-resolution quantization, under practical system constraints. We evaluate the system performance in terms of spectral efficiency (SE) and energy efficiency (EE). Simulation results demonstrate that a moderate quantization resolutions of 4-bit per DAC/ADC offers a favorable trade-off between energy consumption and achievable data rate.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_15831
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Performance Analysis of Digital Beamforming mmWave MIMO with Low-Resolution DACs/ADCs
Pasic, Faruk
Mussbah, Mariam
Schwarz, Stefan
Rupp, Markus
Tufvesson, Fredrik
Mecklenbräuker, Christoph F.
Signal Processing
Future wireless communications will rely on multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) beamforming operating at millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency bands to deliver high data rates. To support flexible spatial processing and meet the demands of latency critical applications, it is essential to use fully digital mmWave MIMO beamforming, which relies on accurate channel estimation. However, ensuring power efficiency in fully digital mmWave MIMO systems requires the use of low-resolution digital-to-analog converters (DACs) and analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). The reduced resolution of these quantizers introduces distortion in both transmitted and received signals, ultimately degrading system performance. In this paper, we investigate the channel estimation performance of mmWave MIMO systems employing fully digital beamforming with low-resolution quantization, under practical system constraints. We evaluate the system performance in terms of spectral efficiency (SE) and energy efficiency (EE). Simulation results demonstrate that a moderate quantization resolutions of 4-bit per DAC/ADC offers a favorable trade-off between energy consumption and achievable data rate.
title Performance Analysis of Digital Beamforming mmWave MIMO with Low-Resolution DACs/ADCs
topic Signal Processing
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.15831