In this article, we investigate a secrecy cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output system with network-assisted full duplexing for both noncolluding eavesdropper (Eve) and colluding Eve cases, where the access points (APs) are designed to serve downlink users and uplink users simultaneously and flexibly in the presence of Eves. To confirm the secrecy transmission, we consider the problem of jointly optimizing duplex mode selection and secrecy transceivers to maximize the overall secrecy spectral efficiency, where the information signals at APs are injected with artificial noise (AN) to prevent interception of information by Eves. Considering that downlink secure beamforming, uplink transmission power, and uplink receivers are tightly coupled in both the objective function and the constraints, we propose a two-loop strategy to solve the optimization problem. In particular, we propose a quantum-inspired tabu search algorithm to find a better duplex mode in the outer loop for each iteration. Then, for the inner loop, we propose a successive convex approximation based iterative algorithm to optimize the transceivers and AN by fixing the duplex mode selection vectors obtained from the outer loop. To address the proposed inner loop design subproblem, we resolve the subproblem by a series of nonconvex-convex approximate methods, such as the equivalent transformation and the iterative concave-convex procedure. The simulation results show that the proposed solution can achieve a higher secrecy spectral efficiency gain than the fixed-mode duplex scheme and simple greedy duplex mode selection schemes and achieve secrecy spectral efficiency performance similar to that of the optimal exhaustive search solution for both noncolluding Eve and colluding Eve cases.

In a cell-free massive MIMO system, multiple users arrive at multiple access points at separate times, while in an OFDM system, different delays can be equivalent to delay spread differences (DSDs). Since DSDs are not all the same, in the downlink transmission process, it is necessary to consider its impact on transmission techniques, such as channel estimation and downlink precoding. In this paper, aiming at the performance loss caused by DSDs in cell-free massive MIMO-OFDM system, we propose a multi-RB precoding optimization algorithm that maximizes the downlink sum rate. We derive the sum rate maximization problem into an iterative second-order cone programming form to achieve convex approximation. Then, considering the impact of DSDs on the accuracy of cell-free massive MIMO-OFDM channel estimation, we propose a downlink channel estimation method, which jointly uses channel state information reference signal and demodulation reference signal. The simulation results show that the proposed multi-RB optimal precoding can effectively improve the downlink sum rate, and the proposed downlink channel estimation can obtain accurate multi-RB frequency-domain channel parameters.

A network-assisted full-duplex (NAFD) system based on a cell-free (CF) massive multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) framework has been proposed to satisfy the demands of higher data transmission rates and efficient communication. However, pilot contamination may occur due to the reuse of pilot sequences in a massive MIMO. With this consideration, we raise an asynchronous channel estimation method based on an uplink and downlink time-shifting pilot-sending scheme, which is able to avoid pilot sequence reuse when obtaining channel state information (CSI), while the data signals could be transmitted simultaneously at the same frequency. The transmission processes of the proposed method above are divided into three phases, including pilot phase, estimation phase, and data phase, in chronological order. When the uplink is in pilot phase, the corresponding downlink is in data phase and vice versa. After the channel state information estimation, both uplinks and downlinks are in data phase. The maximum ratio combination (MRC) receiver and the maximum ratio transmission (MRT) precoding are adopted in the uplink and downlink. The closed-form expressions are derived based on large-scale random matrix theory. We compared our asymptotic results with practical results in simulation, and find that they are well matched. Moreover, the proposed method is superior to the normal time-division duplex (TDD) system.

To cope with the growing trend of asymmetric data traffic, we introduce a novel network assisted full duplex (NAFD) for a millimeter wave system. NAFD can dynamically allocate the number of remote radio heads in the uplink mode or in the downlink mode, which can facilitate simultaneous uplink and downlink communications. In this manuscript, we use stochastic geometry to analyze the distribution of the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio and the data rate in a NAFD system. The numerical results verify the analysis and show that the NAFD outperforms the dynamic time division duplex system and the traditional flexible duplex system in terms of spectral efficiency.