Probability density derivation and analysis of SINR in massive MIMO systems with MF beamformer

Abstract: In massive MIMO systems, the matched filter (MF) beamforming is attractive technique due to its extremely low complexity of implementation compared to those high-complexity decomposition-based beamforming techniques such as zero-forcing, and minimum mean square error. A specific problem in applying these techniques is how to qualify and quantify the relationship between the transmitted signal, channel noise and interference. This paper presents detailed procedure of deriving an approximate formula for probability density function (PDF) of the signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) at user terminal when multiple antennas and MF beamformer are used at the base station. It is shown how the derived density function of SINR can be used to calculate the symbol error rate of massive MIMO downlink. It is confirmed by simulation that the derived approximate expression for PDF is consistent with the simulated PDF in medium-scale and large-scale MIMO systems.