Learning Decentralized Power Control in Cell-Free Massive MIMO Networks

Abstract: This paper studies learning-based decentralized power control methods for cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems where a central processor (CP) controls access points (APs) through fronthaul coordination. To determine the transmission policy of distributed APs, it is essential to develop a network-wide collaborative optimization mechanism. To address this challenge, we design a cooperative learning (CL) framework which manages computation and coordination strategies of the CP and APs using dedicated deep neural network (DNN) modules. To build a versatile learning structure, the proposed CL is carefully designed such that its forward pass calculations are independent of the number of APs. To this end, we adopt a parameter reuse concept which installs an identical DNN module at all APs. Consequently, the proposed CL trained at a particular configuration can be readily applied to arbitrary AP populations. Numerical results validate the advantages of the proposed CL over conventional non-cooperative approaches.