Message passing-based joint CFO and channel estimation in millimeter wave systems with one-bit ADCs

Abstract: Channel estimation at millimeter wave (mmWave) is challenging when large antenna arrays are used. Prior work has leveraged the sparse nature of mmWave channels via compressed sensing based algorithms for channel estimation. Most of these algorithms, though, assume perfect synchronization and are vulnerable to phase errors that arise due to carrier frequency offset (CFO) and phase noise. Recently sparsity-aware, non-coherent beamforming algorithms that are robust to phase errors were proposed for narrowband phased array systems with full resolution analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). Such energy based algorithms, however, are not robust to heavy quantization at the receiver. In this paper, we develop a joint CFO and wideband channel estimation algorithm that is scalable across different mmWave architectures. Our method exploits the sparsity of mmWave MIMO channel in the angle-delay domain, in addition to compressibility of the phase error vector. We formulate the joint estimation as a sparse bilinear optimization problem and then use message passing for recovery. We also give an efficient implementation of a generalized bilinear message passing algorithm for the joint estimation in mmWave systems with one-bit ADCs. Simulation results show that our method is able to recover the CFO and the channel compressively, even in the presence of phase noise.