Analysis and optimization of MIMO capacity by using circuit simulation and embedded element patterns from full-wave simulation

A method for analyzing and optimizing multi-port antennas in MIMO systems is presented and exemplified. The method is based on work presented in [1]–[3] and uses data from full wave electromagnetic field (EM) solvers in combination with circuit simulations for efficient calculations of radiation properties of multi-port antennas. Here it is shown that the method can also be used for simulations of antennas in a MIMO system. The main advantage of the proposed method is that only a few full-wave simulations, which usually are time consuming, are needed when e.g. optimizing the matching circuits for a multi-port antenna. Since embedded element patterns are used, MIMO capacity (and of course all other relevant antenna parameters) can efficiently be computed for any matching network connected to the antenna ports and for different channel models, both statistical and deterministic.