Deep Learning-Based Channel Extrapolation for 5G Advanced Massive MIMO: Hardware Prototype and Experimental Evaluation

In this paper, we study the deep learning (DL) based channel extrapolation problem and conduct the over-the-air (OTA) antenna extrapolation and frequency channel interpolation test for the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) long-term evolution (LTE) time-division duplex (TDD)-like orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) massive MIMO prototype. We first present measurement campaigns using universal software radio peripherals (USRP) at 3.5 GHz, where the base station (BS) is composed of a 64-element antenna array. A DL-based antenna extrapolation network is then designed to approximate the inner deterministic function among antennas from the attained channel data within the "training" pilots. We present an antenna selection network (ASN) that can select a limited number of antennas for the best extrapolation, which outperforms the uniform antenna selection in terms of channel reconstruction and signal detection. We also design a deep residual neural network for channel interpolation. The performance of the extrapolated channel is evaluated in terms of normalized mean squared error (NMSE) in comparison to the measured channels on all antenna ports or the full pilot-aided channels in all OFDM subcarriers. Experimental results show that ASN can reduce an average of 87.5% antenna ports and maintain channel estimation NMSE by 10(-2) when compared to 3GPP channel estimation protocols.