A GNN-Based Approach to AP Cooperation Cluster Formation in Cell-Free Massive MIMO

Pereira Ruisánchez, DarielJoham, MichaelFresnedo, ÓscarPérez-Adán, DarianCastedo, LuisUtschick, Wolfgang2025-10-222025-10-222025-09D. Pereira-Ruisánchez, M. Joham, Ó. Fresnedo, D. Pérez-Adán, L. Castedo and W. Utschick, "A GNN-Based Approach to AP Cooperation Cluster Formation in Cell-Free Massive MIMO," 2025 IEEE 101st Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC2025-Spring), Oslo, Norway, 2025, pp. 01-07, doi: 10.1109/VTC2025-Spring65109.2025.11174418979-8-3315-3147-82577-2465https://hdl.handle.net/2183/46053Traballo presentado en: 2025 IEEE 101st Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC2025-Spring), 17-20 de xuño de 2025, Oslo, Noruega. © 2025 IEEE. This version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. The Version of Record is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1109/VTC2025-Spring65109.2025.11174418[Abstract]: Forming effective access point (AP) cooperation clusters is a key challenge in user-centric cell-free massive MIMO (CF-mMIMO). Existing approaches to this task are either computationally prohibitive or overlook the complex interrelationships within communication networks. In this context, we introduce an innovative approach based on graph neural networks (GNNs). By leveraging the inherent graph structure of CF-mMIMO networks, we transform the rate maximization problem into a node classification task, enabling a competitive and robust solution. Simulation results show that the proposed method significantly outperforms conventional baselines in terms of spectral efficiency, computational complexity, and scalability.eng© 2025 IEEECF-mMIMOAP cooperation clusterGraph neural networksA GNN-Based Approach to AP Cooperation Cluster Formation in Cell-Free Massive MIMOconference outputopen access10.1109/VTC2025-Spring65109.2025.11174418