Characterization, modeling and simulation of the MIMO propagation channel

International audienceThis article deals with several aspects relative to the MIMO propagation channel. Based on simulations and/or measurements, different approaches are used to model the propagation channel. These models are useful for the MIMO system design. Several studies are performed in order to realize realistic simulation of MIMO channel. Different measurement techniques are used in characterizing the propagation channel in various environments. Measurement campaigns made in different situations have been analyzed to obtain the relevant statistical parameters of the channel. Simulation of MIMO channel is then presented. Measurement and simulation results provide an evaluation of the capacity of MIMO channel. Obtained results show feasibility in the integration of MIMO techniques in practical wireless communication systems.Cet article traite de plusieurs aspects relatifs au canal de propagation MIMO. Différentes approches, basées sur des simulations et des mesures, utilisées pour modéliser le canal sont d’abord présentées. Ensuite, les différentes techniques de mesure utilisées dans le but de caractériser le canal de propagation dans divers milieux sont décrites. Des campagnes de mesures effectuées dans différents environnements sont analysées pour obtenir les paramètres statistiques du canal. Quelques problématiques liées à la simulation du canal MIMO sont évoquées notamment en lien avec une simulation réaliste dans des milieux complexes. Les résultats obtenus, en simulation comme en mesure, permettent une évaluation de la capacité du canal MIMO. Ces résultats permettent de discuter de l’intégration des techniques MIMO dans des systèmes de communication sans fil

A Survey of Air-to-Ground Propagation Channel Modeling for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), particularly for small UAVs, due to their affordable prices, ease of availability, and ease of operability. Existing and future applications of UAVs include remote surveillance and monitoring, relief operations, package delivery, and communication backhaul infrastructure. Additionally, UAVs are envisioned as an important component of 5G wireless technology and beyond. The unique application scenarios for UAVs necessitate accurate air-to-ground (AG) propagation channel models for designing and evaluating UAV communication links for control/non-payload as well as payload data transmissions. These AG propagation models have not been investigated in detail when compared to terrestrial propagation models. In this paper, a comprehensive survey is provided on available AG channel measurement campaigns, large and small scale fading channel models, their limitations, and future research directions for UAV communication scenarios

Performance Comparison of Dual Connectivity and Hard Handover for LTE-5G Tight Integration in mmWave Cellular Networks

MmWave communications are expected to play a major role in the Fifth generation of mobile networks. They offer a potential multi-gigabit throughput and an ultra-low radio latency, but at the same time suffer from high isotropic pathloss, and a coverage area much smaller than the one of LTE macrocells. In order to address these issues, highly directional beamforming and a very high-density deployment of mmWave base stations were proposed. This Thesis aims to improve the reliability and performance of the 5G network by studying its tight and seamless integration with the current LTE cellular network. In particular, the LTE base stations can provide a coverage layer for 5G mobile terminals, because they operate on microWave frequencies, which are less sensitive to blockage and have a lower pathloss. This document is a copy of the Master's Thesis carried out by Mr. Michele Polese under the supervision of Dr. Marco Mezzavilla and Prof. Michele Zorzi. It will propose an LTE-5G tight integration architecture, based on mobile terminals' dual connectivity to LTE and 5G radio access networks, and will evaluate which are the new network procedures that will be needed to support it. Moreover, this new architecture will be implemented in the ns-3 simulator, and a thorough simulation campaign will be conducted in order to evaluate its performance, with respect to the baseline of handover between LTE and 5G.Comment: Master's Thesis carried out by Mr. Michele Polese under the supervision of Dr. Marco Mezzavilla and Prof. Michele Zorz

Hardware Development of an Ultra-Wideband System for High Precision Localization Applications

A precise localization system in an indoor environment has been developed. The developed system is based on transmitting and receiving picosecond pulses and carrying out a complete narrow-pulse, signal detection and processing scheme in the time domain. The challenges in developing such a system include: generating ultra wideband (UWB) pulses, pulse dispersion due to antennas, modeling of complex propagation channels with severe multipath effects, need for extremely high sampling rates for digital processing, synchronization between the tag and receivers’ clocks, clock jitter, local oscillator (LO) phase noise, frequency offset between tag and receivers’ LOs, and antenna phase center variation. For such a high precision system with mm or even sub-mm accuracy, all these effects should be accounted for and minimized. In this work, we have successfully addressed many of the above challenges and developed a stand-alone system for positioning both static and dynamic targets with approximately 2 mm and 6 mm of 3-D accuracy, respectively. The results have exceeded the state of the art for any commercially available UWB positioning system and are considered a great milestone in developing such technology. My contributions include the development of a picosecond pulse generator, an extremely wideband omni-directional antenna, a highly directive UWB receiving antenna with low phase center variation, an extremely high data rate sampler, and establishment of a non-synchronized UWB system architecture. The developed low cost sampler, for example, can be easily utilized to sample narrow pulses with up to 1000 GS/s while the developed antennas can cover over 6 GHz bandwidth with minimal pulse distortion. The stand-alone prototype system is based on tracking a target using 4-6 base stations and utilizing a triangulation scheme to find its location in space. Advanced signal processing algorithms based on first peak and leading edge detection have been developed and extensively evaluated to achieve high accuracy 3-D localization. 1D, 2D and 3D experiments have been carried out and validated using an optical reference system which provides better than 0.3 mm 3-D accuracy. Such a high accuracy wireless localization system should have a great impact on the operating room of the future

Simulating LTE/LTE-Advanced Networks with SimuLTE

In this work we present SimuLTE, an OMNeT++-based simulator for LTE and LTE-Advanced networks. Following well-established OMNeT++ programming practices, SimuLTE exhibits a fully modular structure, which makes it easy to be extended, verified, and integrated. Moreover, it inherits all the benefits of such a widely used and versatile simulation framework as OMNeT++, i.e., experiment support and seamless integration with the OMNeT++ network modules, such as INET. This allows SimuLTE users to build up mixed scenarios where LTE is only a part of a wider network. This paper describes the architecture of SimuLTE, with particular emphasis on the modeling choices at the MAC layer, where resource scheduling is located. Furthermore, we describe some of the verification and validation efforts and present an example of the performance analysis that can be carried out with SimuLTE