Sum-Rate Maximization in Massive MIMO with Joint Antenna Selection and Power Allocation

Telecommunications improvements in the last decades have led to an increase in the available data rate and reliability, and to reduce latency. Massive MIMO (mMIMO) has emerged as a promising solution to replace simple antenna setups. This arrangement involves a large number of transmitter antennas compared to the served terminals in the covered area, enabling higher data rates through the key characteristics of mMIMO. Despite its advantages, the utilization of such large arrays is energy-intensive. With fewer antennas, it is possible to achieve high data rates with reduced power consumption. Antenna selection is crucial for energy efficiency while maintaining computational efficiency. Additionally, power allocation in the downlink for each served terminal is an important step to consider. This work aims to propose a joint algorithm for selecting antennas and distributing energy among terminals, simplifying the process through low-complexity algorithms. The results show the penalty in sum-rate capacity for each proposed method. The two proposed algorithms demonstrate an adequate approach to the target value asymptotically as the number of transmitter antennas increases. This implies the possibility of achieving the joint process with significantly lower computational costs compared to perform antenna selection and power allocation separately.