3 research outputs found
Exploring Symmetry in Wireless Propagation Channels
Wireless communications literature is very rich with empirical studies and
measurement campaigns that study the nature of the wireless propagation
channel. However, despite their undoubted usefulness, many of these studies
have omitted a fundamental yet key feature of the physical signal propagation,
that is, wireless propagation asymmetry. This feature does not agree with the
electromagnetic reciprocity theorem, and the many research papers that adopt
wireless channel symmetry, and hence rendering their modeling, unexpectedly,
inaccurate. Besides, asymmetry is unquestionably an important characteristic of
wireless channels, which needs to be accurately characterized for
vehicular/mobile communications, 5G networks, and associated applications such
as indoor/outdoor localization. This paper presents a modest and a preliminary
study that reports potential causes of propagation asymmetry. Measurements
conducted on Khalifa University campus in UAE show that wireless channels are
symmetric in the absence of symmetry impairments. Therefore, care should be
taken when considering some practical wireless propagation scenarios. Key
conclusions and recommendation are summarized. We believe that this study will
be inspiring for the academic community and will trigger further investigations
within wireless propagation assumptions.Comment: Accepted in IEEE European Conference on Networks and Communications
(EuCNC17), Oulu, Finland,12-15 Jun. 201