We study channel state information (CSI) compression for wideband frequency division duplex massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) when the base station (BS) reconstructs CSI using an imperfect covariance model. Under matched second-order statistics, remote rate--distortion theory yields transform coding with reverse water-filling (RWF) over covariance eigenmodes. With decoder-side covariance mismatch, however, this allocation is no longer end-to-end optimal. We derive an achievable mismatched Gaussian rate--distortion characterization based on a Gaussian test channel and a mismatched minimum mean square error (MMSE) reconstruction rule. In a shared-eigenvector regime (common eigenbasis, mismatched eigenvalues), the problem decouples across modes and leads to a robust reverse water-filling (RRWF) allocation computable via bisection and per-mode root finding. Simulations using wideband massive MIMO covariance models show that RRWF consistently improves reconstruction distortion and end-to-end mean square error relative to conventional RWF under mismatch.
@article{arxiv.2604.17426,
title = {CSI Compression for Massive MIMO-OFDM: Mismatch-Aware Rate-Distortion Trade-offs},
author = {Bumsu Park and Youngmok Park and Chanho Park and Namyoon Lee},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.17426},
year = {2026}
}