Investigation of Ideal Number User Terminals with Spectrum Efficiency in Next Generation Wireless Communication Systems

Suppose that a multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system is developed from scratch to equally envelop a defined region with optimal spectrum efficiency (SE) in next generation wireless communication systems such as sixth-generation (6G) and beyond networks. What are the ideal number of user terminals U, number of base stations antennas, and used pilot reuse factor? The purpose of this paper is to address this specific issue. Three interference levels are specified for this. Based on these interference levels, signal-to-interference-and-noise ratios (SINRs) are extracted. Closed-form spectrum efficiency equations are thus obtained. As a function of the base station (BS) antenna number, simulations are carried out considering multiple pilot reuse factors and diverse processing schemes such as Maximum Ratio Combining (MRC) and Zero-Forcing (ZF). From the results, it is understood that U varies according to the processing schemes. Therefore, evaluating the results considering the fixed number of users K will not give an accurate result in determining the design parameters for the next generation communication systems. In general, these results are useful statements that spectrum efficiency is maximized when the ideal number of users U is used in multi-cell systems.