Block-Based Kalman Channel Tracking for LEO Satellite Communication With Massive MIMO

Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication (SATCOM) is one of the most promising systems to be incorporated in the future 5G and beyond wireless networks. The combination of massive multi-input multi-output (mMIMO) with LEO SATCOM can effectively enhance the communication capacity and improve the system throughput. However, the channel acquisition and tracking are challenging due to the severe Doppler shift and long propagation delay under the LEO SATCOM channel’s time-varying propagation environment. In this work, we propose a block-based (BB) Kalman channel tracking scheme for LEO SATCOM with mMIMO. Firstly the mMIMO LEO SATCOM channel model with Doppler shift and propagation delay is proposed. To reduce the tracking times in one data frame, the BB Kalman channel tracking scheme is proposed under LEO SATCOM environment. The optimal block length problem is also studied. Simulation results prove the feasibility of the proposed scheme and the block length selection criteria.