Capacity of generalised network multiple-input-multiple-output systems with multicell cooperation

In network multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) systems, cooperative base stations (BSs) and mobile terminals (MTs) are in general at different geographic locations. Correspondingly, the channel gains with respect to different BSs and/or MTs may obey different distributions, which resulted from, different pathlosses, different strength of line-of-sight (LOS) components and so on. Furthermore, future wireless communication systems are expected to be equipped with multiple antennas for transmission/receiving. In these multiantenna systems, signals received by the antennas of one BS from one MT may be correlated. Against the above-mentioned scenarios, in this contribution, the authors study the capacity of the generalised uplink network MIMO systems with multicell cooperation (MCoP), when propagation pathlosses, fast Rician fading with various LOS components and spatial correlation are simultaneously considered. Specifically, the theory of operator-valued free probability is introduced to derive the approximate eigenvalue distribution (AED) of the correlation matrix of the equivalent channels. Based on the AED, the approximate capacity of uplink network MIMO systems is then studied. Furthermore, a range of special cases are analysed by specialise the authors model and modifying their results. Finally, both numerical and simulation results are provided for characterising the capacity of network MIMO systems with MCoP.