Abstract: The uplink scenario of multi-cell massive maltiple input maltiple output with perfect and imperfect channel state information (CSI) is analyzed. The achievable rate of equal gain combining (EGC) scheme is deduced and compared with that of maximal-ratio combining (MRC) scheme. Simulation results show that the deduced EGC closed-form expression agrees well with Monte Carlo simulation results. In the two cases of imperfect CSI with the power scaling factor of 0.5 and perfect CSI with the power scaling factor of 1, as the number of antennas increases, the spectral efficiency of EGC scheme increases and gradually approaches to a fixed value. This implies that the EGC scheme in massive MIMO also has such a characteristic of efficient saving energy like the MRC scheme.

Key words: massive maltiple input maltiple output, equal gain combining, maximal-ratio combining, power scaling