Correlation and capacity of measured multi-user MIMO channels

Abstract—In multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MUMIMO) systems, spatial multiplexing can be employed to increase the throughput without the need for multiple antennas and expensive signal processing at the user equipments. In theory, MU-MIMO is also more immune to most of propagation limitations plaguing single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO) systems, such as channel rank loss or antenna correlation. However, in this paper we show that this is not always true. We compare the capacity and the correlation of measured MU-MIMO channels for both outdoor and indoor scenarios. The measurement data has been acquired using Eurecom’s MIMO Openair Sounder (EMOS). The EMOS can perform real-time MIMO channel measurements synchronously over multiple users. The results show that in most scenarios MU-MIMO provides a higher throughput than SU-MIMO also in the measured channels. However, in outdoor scenarios with a line of sight, the capacity drops significantly when the users are close together, due t...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: PIMRC
• Authors: Florian Kaltenberger, David Gesbert, Raymond Knopp, Marios Kountouris
• Keywords: Communications, MIMO, MIMO Channel Measurements, MIMO Openair Sounder, PIMRC 2008