A Review on Cell-Free Massive MIMO Systems

Cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output (CF mMIMO) can be considered as a potential physical layer technology for future wireless networks since it can benefit from all the advantages of distributed antenna systems (DASs) and network MIMOs, such as macro-diversity gain, high channel capacity, and link reliability. CF mMIMO systems offer remarkable spatial degrees of freedom and array gains to mitigate the inherent inter-cell interference (ICI) of cellular networks. In such networks, several distributed access points (APs) together with precoding/detection processing can serve many users while sharing the same time-frequency resources. Each AP can be equipped with single or multiple antennas, and hence, can provide a consistently adequate service to all users regardless of their locations in the network. This paper presents a detailed overview of the current state-of-the-art on CF systems. First, it performs a literature review of the conventional CF and scalable user-centric (UC) CF mMIMO systems in terms of the limited capacity of the fronthaul links and the connection between APs and user equipments (UEs). As beyond networks will rely on higher frequency bands, it is of paramount importance to discuss the impact of beamforming techniques that are being investigated. Finally, some of the CF promising enabling technologies are presented to emphasize the main applications in these networks.