Unsourced random access (URA) supports massive sporadic connectivity but remains limited by multiuser interference, distributed channel uncertainty, and local fading. This paper proposes a fluid-antenna-assisted distributed joint decoder for cell-free massive MIMO URA. Single-radio-frequencychain access points sequentially sound correlated ports; the central processor then performs correlation-aware expectationmaximization approximate message passing, selects one common payload port per access point, and combines MIMO iterative Gaussian approximation with full-packet channel re-estimation and successive interference cancellation. Fixed-port ablations confirm the complementary benefits of distributed reception, reestimation, and iterative cancellation, while fluid-antenna simulations show improved average and lower-tail received power over fixed-port reception. The framework provides a feasible integration of fluid antennas and cell-free URA and motivates end-to-end evaluation under pilot collisions and switching overhead.
The unprecedented growth of machine-type devices has underscored the need for fundamental solutions to support emerging massive connectivity. In particular, unsourced random access (URA) has emerged as a promising paradigm, reframing the massive connectivity problem as a coding-theoretic challenge with favorable energy and spectral efficiency. Among the widely studied URA models, the Gaussian multiple-access channel (GMAC) and multi-input multi-output (MIMO) systems are of particular significance. Sparse code design is well-suited for URA, offering scalable solutions while retaining many advantages of legacy access protocols. However, existing sparse code designs often suffer from limited sparsity control, inefficient interference cancellation, and a strong dependence on specific channel code designs, posing challenges for long-term adaptability as more powerful channel codes continue to evolve. In MIMO-URA systems, additional activity detection and channel estimation phases typically lead to increased missed detection (MD) and false alarm (FA) errors compared with the GMAC model, which does not require these phases. While prior studies have predominantly focused on minimizing MD errors, the effective mitigation of FA errors remains an open problem. To address this challenge, we propose a sparse code with slotted transmission under the GMAC model, combined with an analytical power division strategy to enhance interference cancellation. Furthermore, we introduce a novel MIMO receiver framework based on joint pattern–data–channel (JPDC) estimation, which significantly reduces FA errors by leveraging the intrinsic correlation between user activity and transmitted data. Notably, the proposed method achieves improved overall system performance without requiring additional transmission overhead or complex algorithms.
Zhen-Tian Zhang, Mohammad Javad Ahmadi, Kai-Kit Wong et al.· IEEE Transactions on Wireles...· 5 citations
We use cookies to run the site and, with your consent, for analytics and to show ads.
See our Cookie Policy.
