Effect of tap gain and spatial correlations to wideband capacity and experimental validation

Abstract

In this paper, the capacity of wideband multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) system is evaluated by using channel measurement techniques. The tap-gain and spatial correlations of the MIMO system are also analyzed. A MIMO-channel characterization platform has been developed for channel sounding in a frequency selective fading environment. Capacity results from these experiments are discussed in an indoor office environment. The measurement data are analyzed to obtain the correlation statistics as well as their effect to the MIMO capacity. It is shown that the MIMO capacity in the wideband case depends on all the correlation effects. It is thus important to quantify the spatial correlations at transmit and receive sides as well as the tap-gain correlations to accurately estimate the capacity. A unified wideband MIMO channel model that can be used for simulations is validated based in our experiments