In this New Year's special, Erik G. Larsson and Emil Björnson answer questions from the listeners on the topic of Massive MIMO. Some examples are: How are the antennas calibrated? Will digital beamforming replace analog beamforming? What is channel hardening and how is it related to power control? Can Massive MIMO interact with drones? Practical issues such as the peak-to-average-power ratio (PAPR) and effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) are also discussed. Please continue asking questions and we might answer them in later episodes! Music: On the Verge by Joseph McDade. Visit Erik’s website https://liu.se/en/employee/erila39 and Emil’s website https://ebjornson.com/

What happened to millimeter wave communications? It is often described as synonymous with 5G, but barely any of the brand new 5G networks make use of it. In this episode, Erik G. Larsson and Emil Björnson discuss the basic properties of millimeter waves, whether it is the long sought “holy grail” in wireless communications, and where the technology stands today. To learn more, they recommend the articles “Antenna Count for Massive MIMO: 1.9 GHz versus 60 GHz” (https://arxiv.org/pdf/1702.06111.pdf) and “Massive MIMO in Sub-6 GHz and mmWave: Physical, Practical, and Use-Case Differences” (https://arxiv.org/pdf/1803.11023). Music: On the Verge by Joseph McDade. Visit Erik’s website https://liu.se/en/employee/erila39 and Emil’s website https://ebjornson.com/

We are creating a society that is increasingly reliant on access to wireless connectivity. In Sweden, you can barely pay for parking without a mobile phone. Will this wireless future have a negative impact on the security of our data and privacy? In this episode, Emil Björnson and Erik G. Larsson discuss security threats to wireless technology, including eavesdropping, jamming, and spoofing. What impact can these illegitimate techniques have on our lives and what do we need to be aware of? Music: On the Verge by Joseph McDade. Visit Erik’s website https://liu.se/en/employee/erila39 and Emil’s website https://ebjornson.com/

The research towards 6G has already been initiated. One of the most hyped concepts in the research community is “reconfigurable intelligent surfaces”, which can be utilized to create smart walls that capture wireless signals and reflect them towards the user device. In this episode, Erik G. Larsson and Emil Björnson discuss the prospects and limitations of this new technology. Is it the next big thing in wireless? To learn more, they recommend their new overview article “Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces: Three Myths and Two Critical Questions”, to appear in IEEE Communications Magazine, which can be downloaded at https://arxiv.org/pdf/2006.03377. Music: On the Verge by Joseph McDade. Visit Erik’s website https://liu.se/en/employee/erila39 and Emil’s website https://ebjornson.com/

There are often hypes and speculations around new wireless technologies, including “Massive MIMO”, which is the key new feature in 5G. In 2015, Emil Björnson and Erik G. Larsson wrote the article “Massive MIMO: Ten Myths and One Critical Question” together with Thomas Marzetta. It was an attempt to dispel some of the misconceptions that were floating around at the time. In this episode, they look back at the statements they claimed to be myths to see if they were right and whether the myths are still around. The article received the 2019 Fred W. Ellersick Prize from the IEEE Communications Society and can be downloaded at https://arxiv.org/pdf/1503.06854. Music: On the Verge by Joseph McDade. Visit Erik’s website https://liu.se/en/employee/erila39 and Emil’s website https://ebjornson.com/

In the first episode of “Wireless Future”, Erik G. Larsson and Emil Björnson talk about the brand new 5G networks and what role the technology component “Massive MIMO” is playing. They reflect upon whether the practical implementation of the technology became as they envisioned in their textbooks “Fundamentals of Massive MIMO” and “Massive MIMO Networks”. Music: On the Verge by Joseph McDade. Visit Erik’s website https://liu.se/en/employee/erila39 and Emil’s website https://ebjornson.com/