The Role of Large-Scale Fading in Uplink Massive MIMO Systems

In this correspondence, we analyze the ergodic achievable rate of a large uplink multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) system over generalized-K fading channels. In the considered scenario, multiple users transmit their information to a base station equipped with a very large number of antennas. Since the effect of fast fading asymptotically disappears in massive MIMO systems, large-scale fading becomes the most dominant factor for the ergodic achievable rate of massive MIMO systems. Regarding this fact, in our work we concentrate our attention on the effects of large-scale fading for massive MIMO systems. Specifically, some interesting and novel asymptotic expressions of ergodic achievable rate have been derived with both perfect channel state information (CSI) and imperfect CSI. Simulation results assess the accuracy of these analytical expressions.