IEEE VTS YP Seminar: Taming the Massive MIMO Beast

Title: Taming the Massive MIMO Beast

Abstract: Massive MIMO (MaMI) is an important technology for 5G, due to its potential to provide unprecedented spectral efficiency, at minimal increase in complexity at user terminals. However, MaMI requires very many antenna elements at the base station, making the antenna large and difficult to handle (like a “beast”). In this seminar, I will give an introduction of base station antennas, and how it evolves into physically large MaMI antennas. I will then show a systematic approach to miniaturize MaMI antennas (“tame the beast”) using physical insights of the antenna structure, allowing the antenna size to be reduced by 1/3 without sacrificing its performance.

Presented by Buon Kiong Lau
Professor, Department of Electrical and Information Technology
Lund University, Sweden

Bio:
Buon Kiong Lau received a B.E. degree (with honors) from the University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia, and the Ph.D. degree from the Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia, in 1998 and 2003, respectively, both in electrical engineering. During 2000 to 2001, he was a Research Engineer with Ericsson Research, Kista, Sweden. From 2003 to 2004, he was a Guest Research Fellow at the Department of Signal Processing, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden. Since 2004, he has been with the Department of Electrical and Information Technology, Lund University, where he is now a Professor. He has been a Visiting Researcher with the Department of Applied Mathematics, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China; the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA; and the Takada Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan. His primary research interests are in various aspects of multiple antenna systems, particularly the interplay between antennas, propagation channels, and signal processing. Dr. Lau served as an Associate Editor, a Senior Associate Editor and a Track Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation (TAP) between 2010 and 2016. He was a Guest Editor of the 2012 IEEE TAP Special Issue on MIMO Technology, the Lead Guest Editor of the 2016 IEEE TAP Special Issue on Theory and Application of Characteristic Modes and a Guest Editor of the upcoming IEEE TAP Special Issue on Artificial Intelligence in Radio Propagation for Communications. He was the Lead Guest Editor of the 2013 Special Cluster on Terminal Antenna Systems for 4G and Beyond for the IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters. From 2007 to 2010, he was a Co-Chair of Subworking Group 2.2 on “Compact Antenna Systems for Terminals” (CAST) within EU COST Action 2100. From 2011 to 2015, he has been a Swedish national delegate and the Chair of Subworking Group 1.1 on “Antenna System Aspects” within COST IC1004. He is also a member of the Education Committee within the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S), where he served as the Coordinator for the annual IEEE AP-S Student Design Contest from 2013 to 2015. He served as an AP-S Distinguished Lecturer during 2017-2019. Since 2021, he is a member of the AP-S New Technology Directions Committee. In 2015, Dr. Lau received an award from the IEEE TAP for exceptional performance as an associate editor.