Intelligent Reflecting Surface Assisted mmWave Communication Using Mixed Timescale Channel State Information

A key challenge for millimeter wave (mmWave) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication is that the signals at mmWave band are highly susceptible to blockage. To address this challenge, we introduce intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) to increase coverage area and improve communication performance. This paper considers a joint design of hybrid precoders at the base station and the passive precoder at the IRS to maximize the average spectral efficiency in an IRS-assisted mmWave MIMO system by exploiting the mixed timescale channel state information (CSI). Specifically, the hybrid precoders are designed according to the instantaneous CSI of the overall channel, while the IRS reflection coefficient matrix is optimized using the statistical CSI of all links. However, such a design problem is challenging to solve due to the non-convexity and the mixed timescale. This work proposes efficient algorithms to design jointly the hybrid precoders and the IRS reflection coefficient matrix where the update of the IRS reflection coefficient matrix is independent of the hybrid precoders. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms. More interestingly, the results also show that adding low-cost reflector elements at the IRS can reduce the number of required high-cost radio frequency chains.