# Knowledge Distillation for mmWave Beam Prediction Using Sub-6 GHz Channels

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.04703 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.04703/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 9 of its 20 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 4 Feb 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 9 of 9)

- [Distilling the Knowledge in a Neural Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1503.02531/) (2015)
- [Knowledge Distillation: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.05525/) (2020)
- [Relational Knowledge Distillation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.05068/) (2019)
- [DeepMIMO: A Generic Deep Learning Dataset for Millimeter Wave and Massive MIMO Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.06435/) (2019)
- [Deep Learning for mmWave Beam and Blockage Prediction Using Sub-6GHz Channels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.02900/) (2019)
- [Understanding the Gains from Repeated Self-Distillation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.04600/) (2024)
- [Knowledge Distillation Based Semantic Communications For Multiple Users](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.13789/) (2023)
- [Resource-Efficient Beam Prediction in mmWave Communications with Multimodal Realistic Simulation Framework](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.05187/) (2025)
- [Defensive Distillation based Adversarial Attacks Mitigation Method for Channel Estimation using Deep Learning Models in Next-Generation Wireless Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.10279/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Beamforming Design Via GNN in mmWave Cell-Free Massive MIMO Using Sub-6 GHz CSI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.30524/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Beamforming in millimeter-wave (mmWave) high-mobility environments typically incurs substantial training overhead. While prior studies suggest that sub-6 GHz channels can be exploited to predict optimal mmWave beams, existing methods depend on large deep learning (DL) models with prohibitive computational and memory requirements. In this paper, we propose a computationally efficient framework for sub-6 GHz channel-mmWave beam mapping based on the knowledge distillation (KD) technique. We develop two compact student DL architectures based on individual and relational distillation strategies, which retain only a few hidden layers yet closely mimic the performance of large teacher DL models. Extensive simulations demonstrate that the proposed student models achieve the teacher's beam prediction accuracy and spectral efficiency while reducing trainable parameters and computational complexity by 99%.