Statistical Characterization of Wireless MIMO Channels in Mode-Stirred Enclosures

Abstract

We present the statistical characterization of a 2x2 Multiple-Input Multiple-Output wireless link operated in a modestirred enclosure, with channel state information available only at the receiver (agnostic transmitter). Our wireless channel measurements are conducted in absence of line of sight and varying the inter-element spacing between the two antenna elements in both the transmit and receive array. The mode-stirred cavity is operated: i) at a low number of stirrer positions to create statistical inhomogeneity; ii) at two different loading conditions, empty and with absorbers, in order to mimic a wide range of realistic equipment level enclosures. Our results show that two parallel channels are obtained within the confined space at both the operating conditions. The statistical characterization of the wireless channel is presented in terms of coherence bandwidth, path loss, delay spread and Rician factor, and wideband channel capacity. It is found that the severe multipath fading supported by a highly reflecting environment creates unbalance between the two Multiple-Input Multiple-Output channels, even in presence of substantial losses. Furthermore, the channel capacity has a multi-modal distribution whose average and variance scale monotonically with the number of absorbers. Results are of interest in IoT devices, including wireless chip-to-chip and device-to-device communications, operating in highly reflective environments.

Towards Spatial Multiplexing in Wireless Networks within Computing Packages

“…Even so, for the evaluation of feasibility of MIMO channels and near field communications, a statistical characterization of a 2×2 MIMO wireless link operated in a mode-stirred cavity is carried out in [16]. The authors obtained two parallel channels within the confined space for different conditions of the mode-stirred enclosure.…”

Measurement quality of a software defined radio system for medical diagnostics

“…Most recently, a new type of system that has been commonly employed in radio communications, e.g. multiple input and multiple output (MIMO) wireless systems [15], has attracted interest of our researchers in this community. This system is based on software defined radio technology (SDR) and the whole system is built on a single circuit board which consists of a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) transceiver and a digital signal processing (DSP) unit.…”