A Tutorial on Environment-Aware Communications via Channel Knowledge Map for 6G

Sixth-generation (6G) mobile communication networks are expected to have dense infrastructures, large-dimensional channels, cost-effective hardware, diversified positioning methods, and enhanced intelligence. Such trends bring both new challenges and opportunities for the practical design of 6G. On one hand, acquiring channel state information (CSI) in real time for all wireless links becomes quite challenging in 6G. On the other hand, there would be numerous data sources in 6G containing high-quality location-tagged channel data, making it possible to better learn the local wireless environment. By exploiting such new opportunities and for tackling the CSI acquisition challenge, there is a promising paradigm shift from the conventional environment-unaware communications to the new environment-aware communications based on the novel approach of channel knowledge map (CKM). This article aims to provide a comprehensive tutorial overview on environment-aware communications enabled by CKM to fully harness its benefits for 6G. First, the basic concept of CKM is presented, and a comparison of CKM with various existing channel inference techniques is discussed. Next, the main techniques for CKM construction are discussed, including both the model-free and model-assisted approaches. Furthermore, a general framework is presented for the utilization of CKM to achieve environment-aware communications, followed by some typical CKM-aided communication scenarios. Finally, important open problems in CKM research are highlighted and potential solutions are discussed to inspire future work.