Movable-Antenna-EnhancedCell-Free Massive MIMO Systems: Modelling and Performance Analysis
You will be architecting the High-Speed,Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency wireless networks of tomorrow!
Movable antennas are antennas that can bephysically moved in a three-dimensional space. This movement can beone-dimensional sliding (e.g., along a sliding rack), movement inside a smallenclosure (e.g., fluid antennas), movement across multiple closely spacedswitchable positions, or repositioning within a compact aperture. Importantly,during these movements, only the antenna position changes, while the antennahardware remains the same.
With movable antennas, an additional degreeof freedom is introduced, similar to time, frequency, polarization, and otherspatial dimensions. As a result, antennas with mobility capability can provideseveral benefits:
These benefits of movable antennas areespecially attractive for dense networks such as cell-free massive MIMO anddistributed wireless networks in FR2-3 bands. In addition to cell-free systems,movable antennas are also promising for massive MIMO with reduced RF chains,mmWave/THz systems, and space-constrained devices such as IoT and wearabledevices.
Despite their benefits, movable antennasare still at an early stage of research and face some key limitations. Forinstance, antenna movement requires time, making them unsuitable forfast-fading applications. Hence, they are best suited for quasi-static orslow-fading channels and block-fading scenarios.
In this internship, the student will studymovable-antenna-enhanced distributed massive MIMO wireless networks.Specifically, the focus will be on one-, two-, or three-dimensional movableantennas, and a comprehensive system model will first be developed fordistributed MIMO networks. This system modeling will include a mathematicalframework for movable-antenna-based cell-free wireless systems as well aschannel modeling. Based on the developed models, resource allocation problemsin cell-free wireless systems will be investigated including the antennapositions using the available local or glabalchannel state information. The student will conduct acomparative study to evaluate the complexity, performance, and feasibility ofmovable-antenna-based cell-free systems versus conventional fixed-antennacell-free systems.
The successful candidate must demonstrate astrong understanding of optimization, signal processing, and mathematics inwireless communications. The candidate will be part of a large IMEC teamworking on the research, implementation, and prototyping of futurecommunication systems. Candidates should be enrolled ina Master's program in Electrical Engineering or a related field witha background in signal processing.
Daily supervisor(s): Muteen Munawar (< e-mail verwijderd om veiligheidsredenen >)
Type of internship: Master internship
Duration: 06 months
Required educational background: Electrotechnics/Electrical Engineering
Supervising scientist(s): For further information or for application, please contact Muteen Munawar (< e-mail verwijderd om veiligheidsredenen >)
The reference code for this position is 2026-INT-086. Mention this reference code in your application.
Applications should include the following information:
Incomplete applications will not be considered.
You will be architecting the High-Speed,Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency wireless networks of tomorrow!
Movable antennas are antennas that can bephysically moved in a three-dimensional space. This movement can beone-dimensional sliding (e.g., along a sliding rack), movement inside a smallenclosure (e.g., fluid antennas), movement across multiple closely spacedswitchable positions, or repositioning within a compact aperture. Importantly,during these movements, only the antenna position changes, while the antennahardware remains the same.
With movable antennas, an additional degreeof freedom is introduced, similar to time, frequency, polarization, and otherspatial dimensions. As a result, antennas with mobility capability can provideseveral benefits:
- fading mitigation and enhanced spatial multiplexing without additional RF resources such as antennas, where the collective net effect is a higher beamforming gain as well as increased interference suppression;
- hardware-efficient MIMO where less RF resources are needed to achieve reliable communication;
- adaptability to dynamic environments.
These benefits of movable antennas areespecially attractive for dense networks such as cell-free massive MIMO anddistributed wireless networks in FR2-3 bands. In addition to cell-free systems,movable antennas are also promising for massive MIMO with reduced RF chains,mmWave/THz systems, and space-constrained devices such as IoT and wearabledevices.
Despite their benefits, movable antennasare still at an early stage of research and face some key limitations. Forinstance, antenna movement requires time, making them unsuitable forfast-fading applications. Hence, they are best suited for quasi-static orslow-fading channels and block-fading scenarios.
In this internship, the student will studymovable-antenna-enhanced distributed massive MIMO wireless networks.Specifically, the focus will be on one-, two-, or three-dimensional movableantennas, and a comprehensive system model will first be developed fordistributed MIMO networks. This system modeling will include a mathematicalframework for movable-antenna-based cell-free wireless systems as well aschannel modeling. Based on the developed models, resource allocation problemsin cell-free wireless systems will be investigated including the antennapositions using the available local or glabalchannel state information. The student will conduct acomparative study to evaluate the complexity, performance, and feasibility ofmovable-antenna-based cell-free systems versus conventional fixed-antennacell-free systems.
The successful candidate must demonstrate astrong understanding of optimization, signal processing, and mathematics inwireless communications. The candidate will be part of a large IMEC teamworking on the research, implementation, and prototyping of futurecommunication systems. Candidates should be enrolled ina Master's program in Electrical Engineering or a related field witha background in signal processing.
Daily supervisor(s): Muteen Munawar (< e-mail verwijderd om veiligheidsredenen >)
Type of internship: Master internship
Duration: 06 months
Required educational background: Electrotechnics/Electrical Engineering
Supervising scientist(s): For further information or for application, please contact Muteen Munawar (< e-mail verwijderd om veiligheidsredenen >)
The reference code for this position is 2026-INT-086. Mention this reference code in your application.
Applications should include the following information:
- resume
- motivation
- current study
Incomplete applications will not be considered.
