Outdoor MIMO wireless channels: Models and performance prediction

Authors

David Gesbert, Helmut Bölcskei, Dhananjay A. Gore, and Arogyaswami J. Paulraj

Reference

IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol. 50, No. 12, pp. 1926-1934, Dec. 2002.

DOI: 10.1109/TCOMM.2002.806555

Abstract

We present a new model for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) outdoor wireless fading channels. The proposed model is more general and realistic than the usual i.i.d. model and allows to investigate the behavior of channel capacity as a function of the scattering radii at transmitter and receiver, distance between the transmit and receive arrays, and antenna beamwidths and spacing. We show how MIMO capacity is governed by spatial fading correlation and the condition number of the channel matrix through specific sets of propagation parameters. The proposed model reveals the existence of "pin-hole" channels which exhibit low spatial fading correlation at both ends of the link but still have poor rank properties and hence low ergodic capacity. We suggest guidelines for predicting high rank (and hence high ergodic capacity) in MIMO channels, and show that even at long ranges high channel rank can easily be sustained under mild scattering conditions. Finally, we validate our results by simulations using ray tracing techniques. Connections with basic antenna theory are made.

Keywords

MIMO channels, channel modeling, antenna arrays, smart antennas, spatial multiplexing, space-time coding, diversity, channel capacity, keyhole channels, pinhole channels

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