RSS map-assisted MIMO channel estimation in the upper mid-band under pilot constraints

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2603.00112v1
• Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2026 17:41:20 GMT
• Title: RSS map-assisted MIMO channel estimation in the upper mid-band under pilot constraints
• Abstract summary: This paper presents a novel physics-informed neural network (PINN) framework that combines model-based channel estimation with a deep network.<n>It achieves over 5 dB gain in NMSE compared to state-of-the-art methods.<n>We extend the decoder for multi-step temporal prediction, enabling accurate forecasting of several future channel snapshots from a single estimate.
• Score: 10.076629346147639
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: Accurate wireless channel estimation is critical for next-generation wireless systems, enabling precise precoding for effective user separation, reduced interference across cells, and high-resolution sensing, among other benefits. Traditional model-based channel estimation methods suffer, however, from performance degradation in complex environments with a limited number of pilots, while purely data-driven approaches lack physical interpretability, require extensive data collection, and are usually site-specific. This paper presents a novel physics-informed neural network (PINN) framework that synergistically combines model-based channel estimation with a deep network to exploit prior information about environmental propagation characteristics and achieve superior performance under pilot-constrained scenarios. The proposed approach employs an enhanced U-Net architecture with transformer modules and cross-attention mechanisms to fuse initial channel estimates with RSS maps to provide refined channel estimates. Comprehensive evaluation using realistic ray-tracing data from urban environments demonstrates significant performance improvements, achieving over 5 dB gain in NMSE compared to state-of-the-art methods, with particularly strong performance in pilot-limited scenarios and robustness across different frequencies and environments with only minimal fine-tuning. We further extend the decoder for multi-step temporal prediction, enabling accurate forecasting of several future channel snapshots from a single estimate, useful for proactive beamforming and scheduling in mobile scenarios. The proposed framework maintains practical computational complexity, making it viable for massive MIMO systems in upper-mid band frequencies. Unlike black-box neural approaches, the physics-informed design provides a more interpretable channel estimation method.

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