Extremely large-scale massive MIMO (XL-MIMO) is a promising technique for future 6G communications. The sharp increase of BS antennas leads to the unaffordable channel estimation overhead. Existing low-overhead channel estimation schemes are based on
the far-field or near-field channel model. However, the far-field or near-field channel model mismatches the practical XL-MIMO channel feature, where some scatters are in the far-field region while others may locate in the near-field region, i.e., hybrid-field channel. Thus, existing far-field and near-field channel estimation schemes cannot be directly used to accurately estimate the hybrid-field XL-MIMO channel. To solve this problem, we propose an efficient hybrid-field channel estimation scheme by accurately modeling the XL-MIMO channel. Specifically, we firstly reveal the hybrid-field channel feature of the XL-MIMO channel. Then, we propose a hybrid-field channel model to capture this feature, which contains both the far-field and near-field path components. Finally, we propose a hybrid-field channel estimation scheme, where the far-field and near-field path components are respectively estimated. Simulation results show the proposed scheme performs better than existing schemes.
Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) can manipulate the wireless communication environment by controlling the coefficients of RIS elements. However, due to the large number of passive RIS elements without signal processing capability, channel est
imation in RIS assisted wireless communication system requires high pilot overhead. In the second part of this invited paper, we propose to exploit the double-structured sparsity of the angular cascaded channels among users to reduce the pilot overhead. Specifically, we first reveal the double-structured sparsity, i.e., different angular cascaded channels for different users enjoy the completely common non-zero rows and the partially common non-zero columns. By exploiting this double-structured sparsity, we further propose the double-structured orthogonal matching pursuit (DS-OMP) algorithm, where the completely common non-zero rows and the partially common non-zero columns are jointly estimated for all users. Simulation results show that the pilot overhead required by the proposed scheme is lower than existing schemes.
The reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) with low hardware cost and energy consumption has been recognized as a potential technique for future 6G communications to enhance coverage and capacity. To achieve this goal, accurate channel state inform
ation (CSI) in RIS assisted wireless communication system is essential for the joint beamforming at the base station (BS) and the RIS. However, channel estimation is challenging, since a large number of passive RIS elements cannot transmit, receive, or process signals. In the first part of this invited paper, we provide an overview of the fundamentals, solutions, and future opportunities of channel estimation in the RIS assisted wireless communication system. It is noted that a new channel estimation scheme with low pilot overhead will be provided in the second part of this paper.
