3D nested distributed massive MIMO: Modeling and performance analysis

The Large Scale Multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) system, also called Massive MIMO in past researches, are considering the azimuth angle only. However, in a 3D distributed antenna system, the elevation angle cannot be ignored. Nested array as a two dimensional arrays was firstly proposed to perform array processing with increased degree of freedom, using less number of sensors at the same time. This paper introduces a novel 3D MIMO antenna deployment based on nested co-array. As the difference co-arrays are invariance, in the 3D nested distributed MIMO system, we are able to calculate the covariance matrix of channels. Based on this inference, we model a 3D nested distributed MIMO system and analyze its performance with achievable sum rate. By applying the nested deployment, our proposed method could achieve a Massive MIMO with less number of physical antennas. Numerical results also provided to support our model.