Knowledge of information about the propagation channel in which a wireless system operates enables better, more efficient approaches for signal transmissions. Therefore, channel state information (CSI) plays a pivotal role in the system performance. The importance of CSI is in fact growing in the upcoming 5G and beyond systems, e.g., for the implementation of massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO). However, the acquisition of timely and accurate CSI has long been considered as a major issue, and becomes increasingly challenging due to the need for obtaining CSI of many antenna elements in massive MIMO systems. To cope with this challenge, existing works mainly focus on exploiting linear structures of CSI, such as CSI correlations in the spatial domain, to achieve dimensionality reduction. In this article, we first systematically review the state-of-the-art on CSI structure exploitation; then extend to seek for deeper structures that enable remote CSI inference wherein a datadriven deep neural network (DNN) approach is necessary due to model inadequacy. We develop specific DNN designs suitable for CSI data. Case studies are provided to demonstrate great potential in this direction for future performance enhancement.
Machine-to-machine (M2M) communication has received increasing attention in recent year. An M2M network exhibits some salient features such as large number of machines/devices, low data rates, delay tolerant/sensitive, small packets, energy constrained and low or no mobility. A large number of M2M terminals may exist in a small area with many trying to simultaneously and randomly access for channel resources, which will result in overload and access problem. This increased signalling overhead and diverse requirements of machine-type communication (MTC) devices call for the development of flexible and efficient scheduling and random access techniques. In an M2M scenario, where the network is operating at high offered load with a large number of contending transmitters, distributed random access techniques are more appropriate than centralised scheduling techniques because of less control messages and better channel utilisation. There is a need for comparison of various medium access methods that can be used in the development of an efficient hybrid M2M and human to human network. In this article, we review and compare various scheduling and random access techniques in cellular networks, particularly in Long-Term Evolution. We also discuss how successful they are to fulfill the unique requirements of M2M communication and networking. Resource management in M2M networks with a large number of MTC devices is also discussed from the access point of view. Energy efficiency, being one of the main challenges of quality-of-service-constrained M2M communication, is also discussed. Minimisation of the energy consumption is tightly bound to channel access and hence considered in the comparison of various medium access control protocols. Finally, some potential research directions related to access control and resource allocation are presented for future work.
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