Resource allocation for cell-free networks with reflective intelligent surfaces

The recently commercialized fifth-generation (5G) wireless communication networks achieved many improvements, including air interface enhancement, spectrum expansion, and network intensification by several key technologies, such as massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), millimeter-wave communications, and ultra-dense networking. Despite the deployment of 5G commercial systems, wireless communications is still facing many challenges to enable connected intelligence and a myriad of applications such as industrial Internet-of-things, autonomous systems, brain-computer interfaces, digital twin, tactile Internet, etc. Therefore, it is urgent to start research on the sixth-generation (6G) wireless communication systems. Among the candidate technologies for such systems, cell-free massive MIMO which combines the advantages of distributed systems and massive MIMO, is considered as a key solution to enhance the wireless transmission efficiency and becomes the international frontier. In this paper, we present relevant results about resource allocation for cell-free massive MIMO for 6G wireless communication networks using Intelligent Reflective Surfaces (IRS) according to a given system model.