RSS map-assisted MIMO channel estimation in the upper mid-band under pilot constraints

TL;DR

A novel physics-informed neural network (PINN) framework that synergistically combines model-based channel estimation with a deep network to exploit prior information about environmental propagation characteristics and achieve superior performance under pilot-constrained scenarios is presented.

Abstract

Accurate wireless channel estimation is critical for next-generation wireless systems, enabling precise precoding for effective user separation, reduced interference across cells, and high-resolution sensing, among other benefits. Traditional model-based channel estimation methods suffer, however, from performance degradation in complex environments with a limited number of pilots, while purely data-driven approaches lack physical interpretability, require extensive data collection, and are usually site-specific. This paper presents a novel physics-informed neural network (PINN) framework that synergistically combines model-based channel estimation with a deep network to exploit prior information about environmental propagation characteristics and achieve superior performance under pilot-constrained scenarios. The proposed approach employs an enhanced U-Net architecture with transformer modules and cross-attention mechanisms to fuse initial channel estimates with RSS maps to provide refined channel estimates. Comprehensive evaluation using realistic ray-tracing data from urban environments demonstrates significant performance improvements, achieving over 5 dB gain in NMSE compared to state-of-the-art methods, with particularly strong performance in pilot-limited scenarios and robustness across different frequencies and environments with only minimal fine-tuning. We further extend the decoder for multi-step temporal prediction, enabling accurate forecasting of several future channel snapshots from a single estimate, useful for proactive beamforming and scheduling in mobile scenarios. The proposed framework maintains practical computational complexity, making it viable for massive MIMO systems in upper-mid band frequencies. Unlike black-box neural approaches, the physics-informed design provides a more interpretable channel estimation method.

Figures (12)

• Figure 1: Block diagram of the proposed PINN-based channel estimation approach.
• Figure 2: PINN structure for channel estimation.
• Figure 3: Multi-step temporal channel estimation architecture. The decoder generates $L$ consecutive future channel snapshots in parallel from the current channel estimate and RSS map.
• Figure 4: RSS map for the Boston environment with $P_T = 50$ dBm and $f_c = 15$ GHz.
• Figure 5: Urban canyon environment with $f_c = 15$ GHz. The MPC with gains above $-120$ dBm are plotted.

Theorems & Definitions (1)

• Remark