Does Massive MIMO Fail in Ricean Channels?

Abstract: Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) is now making its way to the standardization exercise of future 5G networks. Yet, there are still fundamental questions pertaining to the robustness of massive MIMO against physically detrimental propagation conditions. On these grounds, we identify scenarios under which massive MIMO can potentially fail in Ricean channels, and characterize them physically, as well as, mathematically. Our analysis extends and generalizes a stream of papers on this topic and articulates emphatically that such harmful scenarios in Ricean fading conditions are unlikely and can be compensated using any standard scheduling scheme. This implies that massive MIMO is intrinsically effective at combating interuser interference and, if needed, can avail of the base-station scheduler for further robustness.