Near-Field Channel Estimation with ELAA Modular Arrays Under Hardware Impairments

Abstract: Extremely large-scale antenna arrays (ELAAs) enable high spatial resolution and multiplexing, especially for user equipments (UEs) in the radiative near-field. To reduce hardware cost, modular ELAA architectures with distributed baseband units (BBUs) are gaining traction. This paper addresses near-field line-of-sight (LOS) channel estimation under low noise amplifier (LNA)-induced hardware impairments in such modular systems. We propose computationally efficient estimators that exploit the array geometry and constant-modulus structure of near-field LOS channels, including a novel two-dimensional (2D) discrete Fourier transform (DFT) masking technique that improves estimation accuracy and significantly reduces fronthaul signaling. Numerical results show that the proposed methods significantly outperform the conventional least squares (LS) method.