Analysis of Coverage Region for MIMO Relay Network with Multiple Cooperative DF-Relays

We study and analyze coverage region in MIMO communication systems for a multiple-relay network with decode-and-forward (DF) strategy at the relays. Assuming that there is a line-of-sight (LOS) propagation environment for source-relay channels and channel state information is available at receivers (CSIR), we consider the objective of maximizing coverage region for a given transmission rate and show numerically the significant effect of propagation environment on capacity bounds, optimal relay location and coverage region. Also, we study the situation in which two adjacent relays cooperate in transmission signals to the destination and show analytically that the coverage region is extended compared to noncooperative scenario.Comment: Accepted for publication in International Symposium on Wireless Communication Systems (ISWCS) 201

Asymptotic Analysis of Multicell Massive MIMO over Rician Fading Channels

This work considers the downlink of a multicell massive MIMO system in which $L$ base stations (BSs) of $N$ antennas each communicate with $K$ single-antenna user equipments randomly positioned in the coverage area. Within this setting, we are interested in evaluating the sum rate of the system when MRT and RZF are employed under the assumption that each intracell link forms a MIMO Rician fading channel. The analysis is conducted assuming that $N$ and $K$ grow large with a non-trivial ratio $N/K$ under the assumption that the data transmission in each cell is affected by channel estimation errors, pilot contamination, and an arbitrary large scale attenuation. Numerical results are used to validate the asymptotic analysis in the finite system regime and to evaluate the network performance under different settings. The asymptotic results are also instrumental to get insights into the interplay among system parameters.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, submitted to GLOBECOM16, Washington, DC USA. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1601.0702

Dual-Polarized Ricean MIMO Channels: Modeling and Performance Assessment

In wireless communication systems, dual-polarized (DP) instead of single-polarized (SP) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission is used to improve the spectral efficiency under certain conditions on the channel and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In order to identify these conditions, we first propose a novel channel model for DP mobile Ricean MIMO channels for which statistical channel parameters are readily obtained from a moment-based channel decomposition. Second, we derive an approximation of the mutual information (MI), which can be expressed as a function of those statistical channel parameters. Based on this approximation, we characterize the required SNR for a DP MIMO system to outperform an SP MIMO system in terms of the MI. Finally, we apply our results to channel measurements at 2.53 GHz. We find that, using the proposed channel decomposition and the approximation of the MI, we are able to reproduce the (practically relevant) SNR values above which DP MIMO systems outperform SP MIMO systems.Comment: submitted to the IEEE Transactions on Communication

Hybrid virtual polarimetric massive MIMO measurements at 1.35 GHz

The polarimetric massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radio channel of an indoor line-of-sight scenario is investigated at 1.35 GHz using a real-time radio channel sounder. The 8 x 12 massive MIMO transmitter is constructed using a hybrid architecture including a vertical uniform linear array translated at different horizontal positions forming a virtual, yet realistic, uniform rectangular array. The performance of the system is evaluated with six users distributed in the room for different polarisation schemes and receiver orientations using propagation channel-based metrics (such as receiver spatial correlation and Rician factor) and system-oriented metrics such as sum-rate capacity and signal to interference and noise ratio. The results show a clear dependence of the performance to the polarisation schemes and receiver orientation and showing that when facing the array, cross-polarisation can be very beneficial. Furthermore, it is concluded that the additional degree of freedom brought by the polarisation diversity can contribute to improve spectral efficiency (similar to 20% depending on the configuration), paving the way for further capacity enhancements in massive MIMO systems. It was also found that the receiver spatial correlation can be modelled using a Burr distribution

Emulation of MIMO rician-fading environments with mode-stirred reverberation chambers

Some recent publications have extended the emulating capabilities of mode-stirred reverberation chambers, which are now able to emulate Ricean-fading and non-isotropic environments. Either the need to physically modify existing chambers or multiple sets of measurements is required for these enhancements. In this paper a novel post-processing hybrid tool is presented for the transformation of a Rayleigh-fading emulated environment into a Rician one. The model is tested and compared to outdoor measurements and simulations through the K-factor, correlation, diversity gain and MIMO capacity. Results show an excellent matching performance with no hardware modifications of mode-stirred chambers with just one set of measurements. The method is patent prot cted by EMITE Ing.This work was supported in part by Fundación Séneca, the R&D unit of the Autonomous Region of Murcia (Spain) under project reference 11783/PI/09 and in part by the Spanish National R&D Programme through TEC2008-05811. J. Valenzuela-Valdés is with the EMITE Ingeniería SLNE, Edificio CEEIM, E-30100 Espinardo, Murcia, Spain (e-mail: [email protected]). J. D. Sánchez-Heredia, A. M. Martínez-González, and D. A. Sánchez-Hernández are with the Departamento de Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicaciones, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Cartagena E-30202, Spain (e-mail: [email protected])

Closed-form Output Statistics of MIMO Block-Fading Channels

The information that can be transmitted through a wireless channel, with multiple-antenna equipped transmitter and receiver, is crucially influenced by the channel behavior as well as by the structure of the input signal. We characterize in closed form the probability density function (pdf) of the output of MIMO block-fading channels, for an arbitrary SNR value. Our results provide compact expressions for such output statistics, paving the way to a more detailed analytical information-theoretic exploration of communications in presence of block fading. The analysis is carried out assuming two different structures for the input signal: the i.i.d. Gaussian distribution and a product form that has been proved to be optimal for non-coherent communication, i.e., in absence of any channel state information. When the channel is fed by an i.i.d. Gaussian input, we assume the Gramian of the channel matrix to be unitarily invariant and derive the output statistics in both the noise-limited and the interference-limited scenario, considering different fading distributions. When the product-form input is adopted, we provide the expressions of the output pdf as the relationship between the overall number of antennas and the fading coherence length varies. We also highlight the relation between our newly derived expressions and the results already available in the literature, and, for some cases, we numerically compute the mutual information, based on the proposed expression of the output statistics.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure

Characterization of UAV-based Wireless Channels With Diverse Antenna Configurations

In the next wave of swarm-based applications, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) need to communicate with peer drones in any direction of a three-dimensional (3D) space. On a given drone and across drones, various antenna positions and orientations are possible. We know that, in free space, high levels of signal loss are expected if the transmitting and receiving antennas are cross polarized. However, increasing the reflective and scattering objects in the channel between a transmitter and receiver can cause the received polarization to become completely independent from the transmitted polarization, making the cross-polarization of antennas insignificant. Usually, these effects are studied in the context of cellular and terrestrial networks and have not been analyzed when those objects are the actual bodies of the communicating drones that can take different relative directions or move at various elevations. In this work, we show that the body of the drone can affect the received power across various antenna orientations and positions and act as a local scatterer that increases channel depolarization, reducing the cross-polarization discrimination (XPD). In addition to communicating with other UAVs in a swarm, UAVs can also serve users on the ground. For example, at ultra-low altitudes, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can act as a personal base station where it communicates only with one or two users on the ground. The communication device used by a user can be in their pocket, held by hand, or attached to their bodies. In these scenarios, the wireless channel can go through different fading levels, depending on the UAV’s location, user orientation, the location of the UE near the user’s body, and the frequency of the transmitted signal. The extent to which these factors can affect Air-to-Ground channels at ultra-low altitudes is studied in this work. We answer questions regarding how the human body and different use-cases of holding a communication device on the ground can affect the quality of the wireless channel and the optimal UAV hovering location. Furthermore, we demonstrate how the observed effects can be leveraged to our advantage and increase the physical layer security of UAV-assisted networks relying on the human-induced effects. Finally, in situations where a UAV swarm needs to communicate with a target that is far or surrounded by undesired receivers, beamforming can be an attractive solution. With beamforming, the transmitted signal becomes shaped towards a certain direction confining its spatial signature and increasing the received signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) at the receiver. However, phase synchronization across the swarm is difficult to achieve and there will always exist some degree of phase incoherency across the transmitted signals from the distributed UAVs. Phase differences between the distributed nodes would result in signals arriving at different times and their phases might not align with each other resulting in reductions in beamforming gain. Hence, a method to increase phase coherency at the receiver with limited channel overhead is desired. To this end, we propose a UAV rotation-based method through which the UAV, relying on its heterogeneous body structure, can alter the phase of the incoming signals and increase the beamformed signal level