Experimental analysis of multidimensional radio channels

In this thesis new systems for radio channel measurements including space and polarization dimensions are developed for studying the radio propagation in wideband mobile communication systems. Multidimensional channel characterization is required for building channel models for new systems capable of exploiting the spatial nature of the channel. It also gives insight into the dominant propagation mechanisms in complex radio environments, where their prediction is difficult, such as urban and indoor environments. The measurement systems are based on the HUT/IDC wideband radio channel sounder, which was extended to enable real-time multiple output channel measurements at practical mobile speeds at frequencies up to 18 GHz. Two dual-polarized antenna arrays were constructed for 2 GHz, having suitable properties for characterizing the 3-D spatial radio channel at both ends of a mobile communication link. These implementations and their performance analysis are presented. The usefulness of the developed measurement systems is demonstrated by performing channel measurements at 2 GHz and analyzing the experimental data. Spatial channels of both the mobile and base stations are analyzed, as well as the double-directional channel that fully characterizes the propagation between two antennas. It is shown through sample results that spatial domain channel measurements can be used to gain knowledge on the dominant propagation mechanisms or verify the current assumptions. Also new statistical information about scatterer distribution at the mobile station in urban environment is presented based on extensive real-time measurements. The developed techniques and collected experimental data form a good basis for further comparison with existing deterministic propagation models and development of new spatial channel models.reviewe

Typical MIMO propagation channels in urban macrocells at 2GHz

International audienceA directional wideband measurement campaign was performed in urban macrocells at 2 GHz using a channel sounder and a 8-sensor linear antenna array at the base station. Directions of arrival at the Base Station (BS) were estimated by beamforming using the antenna array. Directions of arrival at the Mobile Station (MS) were estimated by beamforming using parts of the measurement route. Global parameters (delay spread, azimuth spread at BS, maximum factor and street canyon factor) were processed from the Azimuth-Delay Power Profiles (ADPP) at BS and MS. In this paper, we compare the statistics of these four parameters with the statistics of those simulated by the 3GPP-SCM system-level model and the statistics of those reported in the literature. We find an acceptable agreement between our measurements and the SCM model except for the delay spread and the street canyon factor. The azimuth spread at BS mean Value (9.5°) and delay spread mean value (0.250 μs) are also in accordance with values reported in other references. Azimuth spreads are ranged from 7° to 11°, and delay spreads are ranged from 0.1 μs to 1 μs. From a statistical analysis of global parameters, we show that most of the measured propagation Channels can be classified in three main categories: low spatial diversity at MS and BS, high spatial diversity at MS and BS, low spatial diversity at BS and high spatial diversity at MS

Impact of the propagation model on the capacity in small‐cell networks: comparison between the UHF/SHF and the millimetre wavebands

This work shows how both frequency and the election of path loss model affect estimated spectral efficiency. Six different frequency bands are considered, ranging from 2.6 GHz in the Ultra High Frequency (UHF) band to 73 GHz in the millimetre wave bands (mmWaves), using both single-slope and two-slope path-loss models. We start by comparing four ur ban path loss models for UHF: the urban/vehicular and pedestrian test environment from the ITU-R M. 1255 Report, which includes the two-slope urban micro line-of-sight (LoS) and NLoS, from the ITU-R 2135 Report. Then, we consider mmWaves taking into con26 sideration the modified Friis propagation model, followed by an analysis of the through put for the 2.6, 3.5, 28, 38, 60 and 73 GHz frequency bands. We have found that the signal to-interference-plus-noise ratio, as estimated with the more realistic two-slope model, is lower for devices that are within the break-point of the transmitter, which is a small dis tance in the UHF/SHF band. As a result, spectral efficiency is higher with mmWaves than with UHF/SHF spectrum when cell radius is under 40 meters but not when cells are larger. Consequently, mmWaves spectrum will be more valuable as cells get small. We also find that capacity as estimated with the two-slope model is considerably smaller than one would obtain with the one-slope model when cells are small but there is little difference in the models when cells are larger. Thus, as cells get smaller, the use of one slope models may underestimate the number of cells that must be deployed.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Evaluation of performance of mobile terminal antennas

Fast development of new mobile communications equipment results in demand for fast and reliable evaluation methods to estimate the performance of mobile terminals because the performance of antennas located on the terminals varies in different multipath propagation environments. Two methods presented in this thesis provide new possibilities in antenna design because, from now on, the performance of new antennas can be tested already before a prototype antenna is constructed by using existing radio channel libraries and simulated radiation patterns of the antennas. The performance can be estimated by calculating the mean effective gain (MEG) of the antenna using the elevation power distribution or by a plane wave -based method using sets of incident plane waves and the radiation pattern of an antenna. In addition to different propagation environments, the effects of the user on performance can be included in the evaluation. In this thesis, estimating the MEG of different antennas using the elevation power distribution and the power patterns of the antennas is shown to be an accurate and fast method by comparing the results with direct radio channel measurements. The mean difference between the methods is −0.18 dB with standard deviation of 0.19 dB. The usefulness of the evaluation method is demonstrated by evaluating the performance of several antennas located on mobile terminals. The antenna evaluation provided important and unique knowledge of the effect of both the environment and the user on performance. Because in calculating the radiation efficiency of the antenna we assume uniform incident field, the efficiency can result in a performance estimation that does not correspond to real usage situations. Therefore, including the environmental effects in the evaluation procedure is important, although the effect of the antenna is more important than the effect of the environment on MEG. It was noticed with calculated Gaussian-shaped beams that tilting or changing the beamwidth of a mobile terminal antenna has an effect of about 2 dB on MEG in multipath environments. Matching the polarization of the antenna to that of the environment can improve the performance more. A novel incident plane wave -based tool has been developed for evaluating the performance of antenna configurations designed for diversity and Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems. In this thesis, the instantaneous joint contribution of incident field consisting of a number of extracted plane waves and the complex three-dimensional radiation pattern of the antenna is shown to be accurate and extremely fast way to estimate the diversity advantages of different antenna configurations in time-variable radio channels. The difference between the diversity gains achieved by the plane wave -based method and by the direct radio channel measurements is on average less than 0.9 dB. Moreover, the radio channel can be exactly the same for all antenna configurations under test. Furthermore, this thesis includes evaluation of the performance of different MIMO antenna configurations. The studied antenna configurations have been selected from the 16×64 MIMO channel measurement data. A novel way of using one omnidirectional reference antenna in a normalization procedure is shown to be reasonable especially in cases of antenna arrays consisting of directive elements. Three different propagation environments are used as evaluation platforms. The azimuth orientation of mobile terminal antennas may influence the performance of a MIMO antenna configuration significantly. In MIMO configurations compact dual-polarized receiving antennas provide capacity performance almost equal to the arrays employing single polarization.reviewe

The COST 259 Directional Channel Model Part II: Macrocells

Abstract — This paper describes the attributes of the COST 259 directional channel model that are applicable for use in the design and implementation of macrocellular mobile and portable radio systems and associated technology. Special care has been taken to model all propagation mechanisms that are currently understood to contribute to the characteristics of practical macrocellular channels and confirm that large scale, small scale, and directional characteristics of implemented models are realistic through their comparison with available measured data. The model that is described makes full use of previously published work, as well as incorporating some new results. It is considered that its implementation should contribute to a tool that can be used for simulations and comparison of different aspects of a large variety of wireless communication systems, including those that exploit the spatial aspects of radio channels, as, for example, through the use of adaptive antenna systems. Index Terms — Direction of arrival, mobile radio channel, smart antenna. I