Grouped Sparse Bayesian Estimation for Near-Field Massive MIMO Channels

Abstract

This paper studies near-field massive MIMO channel estimation based on an electromagnetic channel model with limited pilots. Starting from Maxwell's equations, we derive the homogeneous background response and the scattering response in the spatial and wavenumber domains. It is found that a compact scattering cluster produces a localized receive--transmit transverse-wavenumber block across finite apertures, thereby yields a block-sparse NLOS channel coefficient matrix in the wavenumber domain. Considering the spatial non-stationarity of large-scale antenna arrays, we introduce visibility factors at the transmit and receive sides of the channel model. To solve the non-stationary sparse channel estimation problem in the wavenumber domain, we propose a visibility-aware block-sparse Bayesian channel estimation algorithm. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves lower channel-estimation NMSE than benchmark schemes.