Chu, Yi, Rahmani, Mostafa orcid.org/0000-0002-7943-9977, Shackleton, Josh et al. (4 more authors) (Accepted: 2025) Testbed Development: An Intelligent O-RAN based Cell-Free MIMO Network. IEEE Communications Magazine. ISSN 0163-6804 (In Press)
Abstract
Cell-free multiple input multiple output (CF-MIMO) systems improve spectral and energy efficiencies using distributed access points (APs) to provide reliable service across an area equivalent to multiple conventional cells. This paper presents a novel design and implementation of a CF-MIMO network leveraging the open radio access network (O-RAN) architecture based testbed to enhance the performance of interference-prone user. The proposed prototype is developed based on open source software components and unlike many other prototypes, our testbed is able to serve commercial 5G user equipment (UE). The RAN intelligent controller (RIC) allows the cell-free (CF) network to access the embedded artificial intelligence and benefit from the network optimisation techniques that O-RAN brings. The testbed includes an intelligent antenna association xApp which determines the antenna group that serves each UE based on the live key performance measurements. The paper demonstrates the deployment and operation of the CF network and the xApp and discusses how the CF networks can benefit from the O-RAN architecture.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the University’s Research Publications and Open Access policy. |
Keywords: | Cell-free multiple input multiple output,,pen radio access network,key performance measurements,prototype |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Electronic Engineering (York) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number THE DEPARTMENT FOR CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT TS/X013758/1 DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY TS/Y008952/1 EPSRC EP/X01309X/1 |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 22 Jan 2025 12:00 |
Last Modified: | 25 Feb 2025 17:00 |
Status: | In Press |
Refereed: | Yes |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:222193 |
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Filename: Cell_free_mMIMO_TestBed_Final.pdf
Description: Cell_free_mMIMO_TestBed_Final
Licence: CC-BY 2.5
