The Effect of Diversity Combining on ISI in Massive MIMO

Abstract: We analyze the resiliency of Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (M-MIMO) systems to Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI) when diversity combining techniques are used at the Base Station (BS). We show that Maximum Ratio Combining (MRC) alone can equalize an ISI channel as the number of antennas grows unbounded. Additional constraints on the nature of the channel must be postulated depending on whether the information of the Angle-of-Arrival (AoA) is exploited at the receiver or not. Interestingly, the simpler Equal Gain Combiner (EGC) receiver is also able to equalize the channel as the number of antennas grows but, in this case, at least one channel path must be Ricean faded. These findings are confirmed via simulation on WSSUS channels and channels generated with a ray tracing engine simulating a real BS deployment in downtown Hong Kong and Shanghai. Finally, the observed scaling law indicates that normalized ISI power decreases $N$-fold for every $N$-fold increase in the number of antennas at the BS.