Uplink pilot power control with genetic algorithm for massive MIMO networks

In this paper, we propose two uplink pilot power control schemes to mitigate pilot contamination in a multi-cell massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system. These uplink pilot power control schemes can maximize the minimum signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) of the worst user or the mean SINR of the whole network for the downlink data transmission. Combinatorial optimization problems are formulated to determine users' transmit powers of pilots using the genetic algorithm (GA). The base station (BS) will send the pilot power control commands to the users as signaling. Simulation results show that with the assistance of GA, our proposed maximized minimum (Max-Min) SINR and maximized mean (Max-Mean) SINR power control schemes can significantly outperform the constant power scheme in terms of SINR and power consumption.