3GPP 3D MIMO channel model: a holistic implementation guideline for open source simulation tools

Abstract

Massive MIMO and 3D beamforming have been identified as key technologies for future mobile cellular networks. Their investigation requires channel models that consider not only the azimuth-but also the elevation direction. Recently, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has released a new 3D spatial channel model. It supports planar antenna arrays and enables to scrutinize concepts such as elevation beamforming and full dimension MIMO. A particular challenge is the practical implementation of the model. Dealing with enormous computational complexity requires to design a highly efficient approach. This paper provides a guideline for the practical implementation of the 3GPP 3D model into existing link-and system-level simulation tools. Considering the complexity of the model itself, our main focus is on computational efficiency. We present simulation examples using the proposed procedure with the Vienna LTE-A Downlink System Level Simulator. We measure simulation run times with respect to various network parameters. Our results allow to quantify the increase in complexity, when accounting for the elevation dimension. Moreover, they exhibit general trends when considering a large number of antenna elements per antenna array. We also draw a comparison with the WINNER channel model, which represents the most closely related channel model in 2D.

A mutual coupling model for massive MIMO applied to the 3GPP 3D channel model

“…For simulations, channel coefficients are generated exploiting the 3GPP 3D channel model [13], [23]. We consider massive MIMO downlink transmissions in an urban macrocell scenario [13] with users uniformly distributed in a single sector ranging from 0 to 120 • as shown in Fig.…”

Flexible multi-node simulation of cellular mobile communications: the Vienna 5G System Level Simulator

“…An important issue that arises at this step is the lack of spatial consistency since cluster-and ray-specific parameters (D n , S n , X n , Y n , Z n,m , n,m ) are generated for every user independently. We therefore extend the 3GPP compliant step-wise SSP generation (see [49] for a more detailed description) by including a new step to generate spatially correlated random variables based on the method proposed in [50]. This step is denoted as spatially correlated random variables and is applied before starting the actual generation of SSPs, as illustrated in Fig.…”

Versatile mobile communications simulation: the Vienna 5G Link Level Simulator

“…The use of a universal spatial channel model, such as the QUADRIGA model [28] or the 3GPP 3D channel model [60,61], is of limited benefit due to the lack of geometry. We offer frequency selective and time selective fading channel models.…”