Massive MIMO Testbed
Ben Lavasani
Academic Team, Europe
IRACON 30th May 2016
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Our Mission
We equip engineers and scientists with the systems
that accelerate productivity, innovation, and discovery.
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Our Customers
Industrial Machinery
Aerospace and Defense
Electronics and
Semiconductor
Academic and Research
Wireless
Transportation and
Heavy Equipment
Automotive
Energy
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ITU-R Vision for 5G
>10 Gb/s
Peak Rate
100 X More
Devices
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mMTC
eMBB
uMTC, UR/LL
< 1 mS
Latency
Prototyping is Critical for Wireless Research
“Investigation, prototypes, technology demos and pilots
of network management and operation, cloud-based
distributed computing and big
data for network operation. Extension of pilots and trials to
non ICT stakeholders to evaluate the technical solutions
and the impact in the
real economy. Detailed standardisation process based on
validated system concepts by means of simulations and
close to real world trials.” 1
15GPPP
Vision - http://5g-ppp.eu/wpcontent/uploads/2015/02/5G-VisionBrochure-v1.pdf
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5G Vectors in Need of Prototyping
Massive MIMO
mmWave
Dramatically increased
number of antenna elements
on base station enabling
beamforming.
Utilize potential of
extremely wide bandwidths
at frequency ranges once
thought impractical for
commercial wireless.
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Multi Radio Access
Technologies (RAT)
Improve bandwidth
utilization through
evolving PHY Level and
flexible numerology
Wireless Networks
Consistent connectivity
meeting the 1000x
traffic demand for 5G
• Densification
• SDN
• NFV
• CRAN
5G Vectors in Need of Prototyping
Massive MIMO
mmWave
Dramatically increased
number of antenna elements
on base station enabling
beamforming.
Utilize potential of
extremely wide bandwidths
at frequency ranges once
thought impractical for
commercial wireless.
ni.com
Multi Radio Access
Technologies (RAT)
Improve bandwidth
utilization through
evolving PHY Level and
flexible numerology
Wireless Networks
Consistent connectivity
meeting the 1000x
traffic demand for 5G
• Densification
• SDN
• NFV
• CRAN
Massive MIMO
•
Give base station a large array of antennas
•
•
Increase capacity 10x and energy efficiency 100x
•
•
•
•
More robust to individual chain failure and process
variation
Significant latency reduction of the air interface
•
•
Power amplifier requirements are relaxed
Potential for lower peak-to-average power ratio
waveforms
Can be built with inexpensive, lower power
components
•
•
> 10X higher than current systems
Low-latency needed for time-division duplexing
Simplifies the medium access control layer
Increases robustness to interference and
jamming
T. L. Marzetta, “Noncooperative cellular wireless with unlimited numbers of base station antennas,”
IEEE Trans. Wireless Comm., vol. 9, no. 11, 2010.
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Massive MIMO / FD MIMO: Theoretical 10X Capacity Gain
Prototyping is needed.
Phased Array
…
Phased Array
8 Transceiver Base
Station
64 Transceiver Base Station
Approach 1: Hybrid Beamforming
3-5x est. capacity
Approach 2: Digital Beamforming
10x est. capacity
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Practical Implications of Massive MIMO
3
128 Element Linear Dipole Array
• 750 MHz = 12.8m wide
• 3.5 GHz = 2.75m wide
¼λ
¼λ
Patch
Dipole
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Figure 1: Some possible antenna configurations and deployment scenarios for a massive MIMO base
station.
feed them back to the base station. This will not be feasible in massive MIMO systems, at least
not when operating in a high-mobility environment, for two reasons. First, optimal downlink
pilots should be mutually orthogonal between the antennas. This means that the amount of timeneeded
for downlink pilots scales as the number of antennas, so a massive
Source: Building frequency
image from Rusek,resources
et al “Scaling up
MIMO: Opportunities
and Challenges with Very Large Arrays,” IEEE Signal Processing Magazine
MIMO system would require up to a hundred times more such resources than a conventional
Universities of Bristol & Lund claim world record in spectral efficiency,
demonstrating 145.6 bits/s/Hz
| NI CONFIDENTIAL
11
NI and Samsung Demonstrate FD-MIMO With
LabVIEW Communications and LTE App Framework
NIWeek 2015
“Samsung Demonstrates FD-MIMO In Real Time For The
First Time In The World…It Accelerates Its Leadership Over
Competition For 5G Standard”
english.etnews.com
| NI CONFIDENTIAL
12
NI MIMO Prototyping Platform
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What is the MIMO Prototyping Platform Used For?
Real-time prototyping of 5G Wireless Systems
Develop New
Algorithms
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Real-time
Prototyping
Get Real
Results Fast
Q2 2016
MIMO Prototyping Platform
The world’s first real-time Massive MIMO testbed with software reference
design and hardware that scales from 4-128 antennas.
Applications
•Cellular
•Wi-Fi
Capabilities
•4-128 antennas
•50 MHz – 6 GHz
•20 MHz bandwidth
•Real-time 2-way communication
•Up to 12 simultaneous UEs
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16 Channel
Mini-Massive MIMO
Demonstrator
The Radio: USRP RIO 294XR / 295XR
•
2 RF Frontends and 1 Kintex 7 FPGA per USRP RIO
•
2x2 MIMO Support
•
RF Front Ends are available in different RF bands
•
•
•
•
USRP RIO 2940R : 50 MHz to 2.2 GHz
USRP RIO 2942R : 400 MHz to 4.4 GHz
USRP RIO 2943R : 1.2 GHz to 6 GHz
x4 MXI Cable with 830 MB/s throughput in each
direction
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Clock and Timing: CDA-2990 (OctoClock)
•
8-channel clock and timing distribution
module
•
Amplify & split external 10 MHz reference &
PPS (pulse per second) signal 8-ways
•
Matched-length traces
•
Optional internal GPS Disciplined Version for
internal time and frequency reference
•
Ensures Phase Coherence between USRP
RIOs (needed for most MIMO applications)
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Data Aggregation: CPS-8910 PCIe Switchbox
•
Combines 8 PCIe connections into a single
stream
•
3.2 GB/s data rate through PCIe x8 Gen 2
connection
•
Enables peer-to peer streaming between
USRP RIOs
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The FPGA Co-processors : FlexRIO 7976R
•
Large Xilinx Kintex 7 410T FPGA
•
Resources available are
•
•
•
64k slices
508k flip-flops
1540 DSP48 slices
•
2.4 GB/s bidirectional throughput
•
32 simultaneous high throughput connections to other
FPGAs
•
Used for Data aggregation and Co-processing on FPGA
•
FPGA speed enables DSP to be done in-line
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The Host: PXIe 1085 Chassis
•
Industrial form factor 18 Slot Chassis
•
Gen 3 x8 PCIe backplane
•
7 GB/s bidirectional throughput per Slot
•
Interconnection of chassis via MXI x8 or x16
cables
•
6674T Timing and Synchronization Module for
clock sync
•
8384 PCIe Control Card to connect to USRP
RIOs
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8374
8374
8374
8374
7976R
7976R
6674T
7976R
7976R
Host
PXI Chassis
8374
8374
8374
8374
8135
128 Channel System
Master Distribution
CDA-2990
Slave
CDA-2990
Slave
CDA-2990
PCIe
Switchbox
PCIe
Switchbox
...
8USRPs
USRP 1-8
RIO
...
8USRPs
USRP 9-16
RIO
Slave
CDA-2990
PCIe
Switchbox
...
8 USRP RIO
USRPs 17-24
Data lines
Clock (10 MHz & PPS) lines
Start Trigger (return signal)
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Slave
CDA-2990
Slave
CDA-2990
Slave
CDA-2990
Slave
CDA-2990
Slave
CDA-2990
PCIe
Switchbox
PCIe
Switchbox
PCIe
Switchbox
PCIe
Switchbox
PCIe
Switchbox
...
8 USRP RIO
USRPs 25-32
...
8 USRP RIO
USRPs 33-40
...
8 USRP RIO
USRPs 41-48
...
8 USRP RIO
USRPs 49-56
...
8 USRP RIO
USRPs 57-64
128 Channel System
...
...
USRPs 1-8
USRPs 9-16
...
...
...
...
...
...
USRPs 17-24
USRPs 25-32
USRPs 33-40
USRPs 41-48
USRPs 49-56
USRPs 57-64
Data lines
Clock (10 MHz & PPS) lines
Start Trigger (return signal)
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Massive MIMO System Diagram
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Standard MIMO Configurations
Base Stations
# of Antennas
c
8
16
32
64
User
Equipment
1-12 Individual USRP + Laptops
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128
Massive MIMO Reference Design Software Features
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
20 MHz Bandwidth with LTE like frame
structure
Fully reconfigurable frame schedule
128x12 MMSE, ZF and MRC MIMO
decoder on FPGA
Bidirectional TDD with fully reconfigurable
UL and DL
Modulations supported: QAM, 16-QAM,
64-QAM, 256-QAM
Each UE up to 19.2 Mb/s uncoded bit rate
with default frame structure
Aggregates all data without bottlenecks
Channel reciprocity compensation per RF
channel
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Example: Basestation w/ Streaming Videos
from 4 Users
Received
constellations
Received
video streams
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Comparison Between LTE and Reference Design
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Parameter
LTE
Ref Design
Bandwidth
20 MHz
20 MHz
Number of Subcarriers
2048
2048
Number of Occupied Subcarrier
1200
1200
Slot Duration
.5 ms
.5 ms
TDD Switching periodicity
10 ms
.5 ms
Pilots
1 SRS every 5,10,40 ms
1 Pilot symbol every
Slot
DL Pilots
CRS
Optional
Collaborative discussion topics
•
Feedback on architecture:
•
•
•
•
•
Distributed/ co-ordinated
Co-located
CRAN
Phase alignment vs phase coherence
What to prioritise for further development:
•
•
•
•
•
More channels
Wider bandwidth
Massive MIMO MAC
Number of Users
FDD
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Massive MIMO Testbed
The World’s first real-time Massive MIMO testbed with software
reference design and hardware that scales from 4-128 antennas.
ni.com
Platform Based Design for 5G
Mult-RAT
Reconfigurable
Instruments
ni.com
Wireless Networks
High Performance
IO
MIMO
mmWave
USRP RIO
SDR
Next Gen
USRP
SDR
Questions?
Contact Ben Lavasani
ben.lavasani@ni.com
+44 7825 309 457
ni.com
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