Application of Large-Scale, Decentralised and Distributed Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) Systems to Universal Basic Internet

Dear Colleagues,

Due to a lack of accessibility or affordability, about half of the world’s population remains unconnected to the internet and mobile services. Satellite and mobile (5G) are unlikely to alter this situation. Despite this, virtually the entire world’s population lives within a 100 km radius of  a major city. Consequently, recent advances across disparate areas of wireless research may now make it possible to develop a low cost, modular, and scalable universal basic internet (UBI) solution.

Massive multiple-input multiple-output (massive MIMO) networks have produced a paradigm shift in wireless communications. However, implementations so far have been confined, for practical reasons, to cellular and centralised architectures. As a result, massive MIMO is not scalable to a UBI solution.

Recently, interest has turned to distributed and decentralised massive MIMO. Geographically distributed service antennas allow the RF power on the entire network to be scaled according to the number of deployed service antennas. Decentralisation facilitates the minimisation of signal processing and back-/fronthaul signalling overheads.

The aim of this Special Issue is to focus on as many advances in wireless research as needed to bring to bear a UBI solution. Advances in massive MIMO will be considered for the physical layer. One example might be a large-scale distributed massive MIMO base station based on decentralised processing and microwave backhaul that serves as a very large cell of isolated clients with a conventional up- and downlink. A second example might be ad hoc architecture involving a large-scale mesh network of massive MIMO clusters which communicate with each other using point-to-point MIMO MAC or broadcast.

Submissions to this Special Issue “The Application of Large-Scale, Decentralised and Distributed Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) Systems to Universal Basic Internet” are solicited to forge progress toward the development of a UBI wireless network. Contributions may include techniques to minimise signalling over existing low-cost backhaul technologies (WiFi LAN), new radio designs that facilitate decentralised beam-forming, novel techniques for large-scale distributed synchronisation, novel protocols or statistical metrics to minimise communications overhead, new ways to use radio spectrum etc.

Dr. Gerard Borg
Guest Editor

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