Massive MIMO and Millimeter Wave for 5G Wireless HetNet: Potentials and Challenges

There have been active research activities worldwide in developing the next-generation 5G wireless network. The 5G network is expected to support significantly large amount of mobile data traffic and huge number of wireless connections, achieve better cost- and energy-efficiency as well as quality of service (QoS) in terms of communication delay, reliability and security. To this end, the 5G wireless network should exploit potential gains in different network dimensions including super dense and heterogeneous deployment of cells and massive antenna arrays (i.e., massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) technologies) and utilization of higher frequencies, in particular millimeter wave (mmWave) frequencies. This article discusses potentials and challenges of the 5G heterogeneous wireless network (HetNet) which incorporates massive MIMO and mmWave technologies. We will first provide the typical requirements of the 5G wireless network. Then, the significance of massive MIMO and mmWave in engineering the future 5G HetNet is discussed in detail. Potential challenges associated with the design of such 5G HetNet are discussed. Finally, we provide some case studies, which illustrate the potential benefits of the considered technologies.