A Joint Channel Estimation and Beamforming Separation Principle for Massive MIMO Systems
Abstract
We demonstrate that separating beamforming (i.e., downlink precoding and uplink combining) and channel estimation in multi-user MIMO wireless systems incurs no loss of optimality under general conditions that apply to a wide variety of models in the literature, including canonical reciprocity-based cellular and cell-free massive MIMO system models. Specifically, we provide conditions under which optimal processing in terms of ergodic achievable rates can be decomposed into minimum mean-square error (MMSE) channel estimation followed by MMSE beamforming, for both centralized and distributed architectures. Applications of our results are illustrated in terms of concrete examples and numerical simulations.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Advanced MIMO Systems Optimization
Advanced Wireless Communication Techniques
Antenna Design and Optimization
Publication details
- Journal / source
- IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society
- Publisher
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
- Volume
- 7
- Pages
- 9468–9491
- Publication date
- 1 January 2026
- Language
- EN