An experimental evaluation of the performance of two-branch spaceand polarization diversity schemes at 1800 MHz

Determines the mean signal level and envelope cross-correlation of 1800 MHz base station signals received in two-branch spatial and polarization diversity schemes. Measurements have been conducted with the experimental base site located in (i) two urban sites, (ii) a residential area, (iii) a rural area, and (iv) near a motorway. In each location, the effect of the random orientation of a typical mobile radio telephone handset has been studied by examining the characteristics of signals received from a mobile collinear antenna inclined at angles of 0°, 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90° to the vertical. Furthermore, the diversity gain at 90% signal reliability has been evaluated for each diversity scheme by simulating selection, equal-gain and maximal-ratio combining techniques using the recorded signals as inputs. Results have shown that 20λ separation in the horizontal plane or 15λ in the vertical plane is sufficient to obtain a cross-correlation of less than 0.7 for most of the time at 1800 MHz. Similar cross-correlation results were obtained for polarization diversity. When the antenna is inclined at 45°, a 6 dB degradation in signal level was recorded for space diversity schemes. However, the diversify gain is unaffected by tilt and remains unchanged at 5-6 dB for horizontal and 3.5-4.5 dB for vertical separation. For polarization diversity, only a little degradation is experienced because most of the energy lost on the vertical branch is recovered on the horizontal branch. The diversity gain is between 1-2 dB at 0° tilt and increases to 3-5.2 dB at 45°     

The performance of the maximum ratio combining method in correlated rician-fading channels for antenna-diversity signal combining

The performance of the maximum ratio combining method for the combining of antenna-diversity signals in correlated Rician-fading channels is rigorously studied. The distribution function of the normalized signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is expanded in terms of a power series and calculated numerically. This power series can easily take into account the signal correlations and antenna gains and can be applied to any number of receiving antennas. An application of the method to dual-antenna diversity systems produces useful distribution curves for the normalized SNR which can be used to find the diversity gain. It is revealed that signal correlation in Rician-fading channels helps to increase the diversity gain rather than to decrease it as in the Rayleigh fading channels. It is also shown that with a relative strong direct signal component, the diversity gain can be much higher than that without a direct signal component.     

Spectral efficiency of dual diversity selection combining schemes under correlated Nakagami-0.5 fading with unequal average received SNR

The spectral efficiency results for different adaptive transmission schemes over correlated diversity branches with unequal average signal to noise ratio (SNR) obtained so far in literature are not applicable for Nakagami-0.5 fading channels. In this paper, we investigate the effect of fade correlation and level of imbalance in the branch average received SNR on the spectral efficiency of Nakagami-0.5 fading channels in conjunction with dual-branch selection combining (SC). This paper derived the expressions for the spectral efficiency over correlated Nakagami-0.5 fading channels with unequal average received SNR. This spectral efficiency is evaluated under different adaptive transmission schemes using dual-branch SC diversity scheme. The corresponding expressions for Nakagami-0.5 fading are considered to be the expressions under worst fading conditions. Finally, numerical results are provided to illustrate the spectral efficiency degradation due to channel correlation and unequal average received SNR between the different combined branches under different adaptive transmission schemes. It has been observed that optimal simultaneous power and rate adaptation (OPRA) scheme provides improved spectral efficiency as compared to truncated channel inversion with fixed rate (TIFR) and optimal rate adaptation with constant transmit power (ORA) schemes under worst case fading scenario. It is very interesting to observe that TIFR scheme is always a better choice over ORA scheme under correlated Nakagami-0.5 fading channels with unequal average received SNR.     

Analysis of Dual-Band Helical Antenna for Diversity on Mobile Phones

Antenna diversity on a mobile phone is considered using two dual-band, GSM900/1800, helical antennas. The received signals in mobile Rayleigh fading channel are modeled using a new field simulation technique that involves the three-dimensional (3D) radiation pattern of antennas, 3D angle of arrivals (AoAs) and Doppler frequency. Statistical tools prove the validity of the field simulator. The signals correlation coefficient and diversity gain are computed for different mobile propagation environments by considering AoAs. It is shown that the diversity gain is slightly influenced by the environment models. The experimental prototype is developed and measured. Antenna characteristics: return loss, coupling, 3-D radiation patterns and antenna efficiency are obtained by the measurements and simulations. The diversity performance of the array configuration is measured in the rich wave scattering environment of a reverberation chamber (RC). Results including: signals correlation coefficient, average power of diversity branches, apparent/effective diversity gain and antenna efficiency in RC are provided. The influence of the mobile user is measured as well. Diversity gain of the helical array in both operating frequencies is fairly good. The signals correlation with user’s head increases in GSM900 and slightly decreases in GSM1800. In the former band, the diversity gain loss due to imbalance branch powers is found more important than in the later.

A random beamforming technique in MIMO systems exploiting multiuser diversity

A random beamforming technique for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems that simultaneously obtains downlink multiuser diversity gain, spatial multiplexing gain and array gain by feeding back only effective signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) is described. In addition, power control using waterfilling is employed to improve the throughput of our method in correlated channels. In a slow fading channel, we prove that the throughput of the proposed method converges to that of eigen beamforming when many users are in a cell. The number of users required to achieve capacity bound increases with the number of antennas and SNR was determined. However, the capacity bound is achieved even with a small number of users, e.g., 16 users in a cell, when the SNR is low, e.g., 0 dB, and the number of transmit and receive antenna is small, e.g., two. We also find that the effect of waterfilling is more noticeable in correlated channels.     

移动台适用的平面型紧凑极化分集天线

给出一种适用于移动台的平面型紧凑极化分集天线。该天线由两个十字交叉的微带分支提供极化分集。每一分支都有单独的微带一垂直探针馈电系统，并在分支上蚀刻有一个细槽以提高两个端口的隔离度。通过电容加载大大缩短了分支长度。利用时域有限差分法，在900MHz频段对该天线进行了分析和优化。天线模型的测量结果与仿真结果基本吻合，在约5％的带宽内两个端口的隔离度大于20dB、回波损耗均低于-10dB。该天线两端口的包络相关系数远小于0．1，能够满足分集的要求。     

一种应用于无线通信系统的MIMO天线

MIMO系统是通过不同的分集技术,以实现在相同带宽和发射功率的条件下大幅改善系统容量和可靠性,减小信道失真。作为系统关键模块之一的天线,则要求有着好的分集特性,并接收较多的这波。这里提出的MIMO天线工作在2．4GHz,天线单元是等边三角形贴片天线。三角形天线的宽波瓣可以使MIMO天线接收更丰富的多径这波,与天线单元的高增益相结合能较好改善MIMO系统的SNR和抗干扰能力。通过对天线端口间的互耦和相关性分析,该系统能实现好的极化和方向图分集,获得高的分集增益。     

Diversity‐multiplexing tradeoff over correlated Rayleigh fading channels: a non‐asymptotic analysis

In this paper, we present a finite‐signal‐to‐noise ratio (finite‐SNR) framework to establish tight bounds on the diversity‐multiplexing tradeoff of a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) system. We focus on a more realistic propagation environment where MIMO channel fading coefficients are correlated and where SNR values are finite. The impact of spatial correlation on the fundamental diversity‐multiplexing tradeoff is investigated. We present tight lower bounds on the outage probability of both spatially uncorrelated and correlated MIMO channels. Using these lower bounds, accurate finite‐SNR estimates of the diversity‐multiplexing tradeoff are derived. These estimates allow to gain insight on the impact of spatial correlation on the diversity‐multiplexing tradeoff at finite‐SNR. As expected, the diversity‐multiplexing tradeoff is severely degraded as the spatial correlation increases. For example, a MIMO system operating at a spectral efficiency of R bps/Hz and at an SNR of 5 dB in a moderately correlated channel, achieves a better diversity gain than a system operating at the same spectral efficiency and at an SNR of 10 dB in a highly correlated channel, when the multiplexing gain r is greater than 0.8. Another interesting point is that provided that the spatial correlation channel matrix is of full rank, the maximum diversity gain is not affected by the spatial correlation. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental investigations of 60 GHz WLAN systems in office environment

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation of 60 GHz wireless local area network (WLAN) systems in an office environment. The measurement setup with highly directional mechanically steerable antennas and 800 MHz bandwidth was developed and experiments were performed for conference room and cubicle environments. Measurement results demonstrate that the 60 GHz propagation channel is quasioptical in nature and received signal power is obtained through line of sight (LOS) and reflected signal paths of the first and second orders. The 60 GHz WLAN system prototype using steerable directional antennas with 18 dB gain was able to achieve about 30 dB baseband SNR for LOS transmission, about 15-20 dB for communications through the first-order reflected path, and 2-6 dB SNR when using second-order reflection for the office environments. The intra cluster statistical parameters of the propagation channel were evaluated and a statistical model for reflected clusters is proposed. Experimental results demonstrating strong polarization impact on the characteristics of the propagation channel are presented. Cross-polarization discrimination (XPD) of the propagation channel was estimated as approximately 20 dB for LOS transmission and 10-20 dB for NLOS reflected paths.     

Branch correlation measurements and analysis in an indoor Rayleigh fading channel for polarization diversity using a dual polarized patch antenna

Spatial diversity techniques are advantageous if the received signals of the diversity branches are sufficiently uncorrelated. Theoretical study using the power unbalance between the two branches employing Laplacian direction of arrival (DOA) distribution is carried out. It is shown that for low value of cross-polarization power ratio (XPR) the correlation has a negligible effect. In order to validate the theoretical results indoor NLOS measurements were carried out. The measurements were done to study the cross-correlation between two received signals of orthogonal polarization using a dual linear polarized patch antenna. The antenna has been designed, built and measured. The results of the channel measurements are given. It is concluded that received signals with orthogonal polarization in indoor Rayleigh fading channels have no significant envelope correlation.     

Performance Improvement Using Polarization Diversity in Precise Agriculture Communication Platform

The use of wireless sensor network (WSN) is essential for gathering data and implementation of information and control technologies in precision agriculture. The efficiency of such smart system strongly depends on WSN reliability and durability, which is highly influenced by wireless channel. Relaying of the collected data over the intermediate nodes has been proven as a good strategy for WSNs. In this paper we assume amplify-and-forward relaying strategy with variable gain amplification. In order to improve system performance we propose implementation of polarization diversity. It is assumed that all communication links are influenced by Rician fading. Thus, in the case of polarization diversity, link between the source and the relay is characterized as two correlated and non-identical Rician fading channels. In this paper, we present a novel analytical model for determining the outage probability of such system, which is applicable to various fading scenarios described with different Rician K factors and average signal to noise ratios (SNR), as well as different level of diversity signals correlation and cross-polar discrimination. Numerical results show that, using polarization diversity, improvements for the considered system performance can be realized with significantly lower SNR, despite a certain level of correlation and power unbalance between the diversity branches. In that manner, compared to the system with no diversity, the total needed transmit power for achieving the same level of system performances is reduced, and thus more energy efficient communication is enabled.     

Estimation of Nakagami-m fading channel parameters with application to optimized transmitter diversity systems

An optimum power loading algorithm for transmitter diversity systems over correlated and unbalanced Nakagami (1960) paths and its performance evaluation under perfect channel estimate conditions are derived. In addition, various online estimators of the required Nakagami channel parameters for optimized power loading and the comparison of their mean square error via Monte Carlo simulations are presented. Some of these estimators are used to obtain the performance of optimized transmitter diversity systems under imperfect channel estimation (ICE). These numerical results show that the diversity gain of these optimized systems compared with equipower systems increases as the severity of fading decreases and as the degree of branch imbalance increases even under ICE. On the other hand, in weakly correlated and (or) unbalanced branches, optimized transmitter diversity systems offer negligible gain or even losses compared with unoptimized systems because of the ICE.     

A semi‐definite programming approach to spatial decorrelation of independently polarized signals

A MIMO channel spatial decorrelation scheme based on semi‐definite programming is introduced. As a particular application example, the paper addresses the potential gain of using multiple antennas and MIMO–OFDM techniques in order to increase the bandwidth efficiency in satellite communication systems. In particular, we consider the increase in channel capacity that is possible by exploiting satellite and polarization diversity. A fundamental case is studied with three satellite branches, and where each transmit/receive antenna unit consists of six elemental electric and magnetic dipoles yielding six distinguishable parallel polarization channels per frequency. The numerical examples show that capacity increases linearly on a logarithmic signal‐to‐noise ratio scale where the constant of proportionality is the number of active parallel channels. In this respect, the simultaneous use of triple electric and triple magnetic dipoles has the potential to triple the capacity of an antenna system based on antenna units of single dipoles. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Measured MIMO Capacity and Diversity Gain With Spatial and Polar Arrays in Ultrawideband Channels

This paper experimentally investigates the performance of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems in indoor ultrawideband (UWB) channels. The improvement in robustness and information rate due to spatial and polar antenna arrays is evaluated. The subchannel correlation, power gains of supported eigenmodes, and branch power ratios are analyzed. The polar arrays are found to experience lower correlation than that of spatial arrays. SNR gains of up to 3 and 5 dB are reported with 1times2 and 1times3 spatial arrays, respectively; the latter is shown to double the coverage range. The mutual information capacity is found to scale almost linearly with the MIMO array size, with very low variance. It is confirmed that the device compactness achieved by the polar array comes with only a small penalty in the achievable capacity and SNR gain compared to the spatial array. The multiple-antenna UWB techniques explored in this paper offer the potential for high-data-rate, robust communications.     

Diversity performance of dual-antenna handsets near operator tissue

This paper presents a computational and experimental study of the diversity performance of two dual-antenna handsets operating indoors in the 902-928 MHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band. Of particular interest is the effect of the operator tissue on the diversity operation. Key indicators of diversity gain such as branch mean effective gain (MEG) and envelope correlation coefficient are obtained from finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method simulations as well as from experimental measurements in three different indoor environments. Diversity gain for the handsets is also measured directly. Reasonable agreement is observed between the experimental and simulated results, with both approaches indicating that while the tissue lowers the MEG of individual branches by 3-5 dB, it has little influence on the handset overall diversity performance     

Average SNR of dual selection combining over correlated Nakagami-mfading channels

We investigate the effect of fading correlation and branch gain imbalance on the average output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in conjunction with dual selection combining (SC). In particular, starting with the moment generating function of the dual SC output SNR, we derive a closed-form expression for the average output SNR in the general case of correlated unbalanced Nakagami-m fading channels. We then show that the generic result can be further simplified for the special cases of Rayleigh fading, uncorrelated branches, and/or equal average SNRs. Because of their simple form, the given expressions readily allow numerical evaluation for cases of practical interest     

X型极化分集系统中天线互耦效应分析

极化分集系统的分集增益性能受天线阵元间互耦因素的影响很大。为了探究存在互耦效应时天线分集增益与阵列夹角之间的关系,首先基于天线基本理论,推导出X型极化分集阵列互耦阻抗、空域相关性以及平均功率比等参数的显性数学表达式,并据此详细研究存在阵列耦合时,X型极化分集系统分集增益性能随阵列排布夹角而改变的变化趋势。理论分析与计算机数值仿真结果皆表明:引入阵列互耦效应后,X型极化分集阵列的分集增益性能优于不计互耦效应时的阵元夹角范围,将随着交叉极化鉴别度的增大而增大。鉴于实际通信环境大多处于较高交叉极化鉴别度值的情形,故此研究结果可为多输入多输出(MIMO)系统小型化设计提供重要的理论及数值分析参考。     

Coupling Element-Based Dual-Antenna Structures for Mobile Terminal with Hand Effects

This paper presents a comprehensive simulation study on the performance of coupling element-based dual-antenna structures on a mobile terminal at the 2,000 MHz Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) frequency band with varying two significant hand effects; vertical position of hand along terminal chassis, and distance between hand palm and terminal chassis. The results reveal that in uniformly distributed isotropic environment, there exists a gain imbalance between antenna elements due to hand effects and it is shown that a gain imbalance of 3.7 dB lead to a reduction of 1.9 dB in diversity gain at 99% reliability level using maximal ratio combining (MRC) technique. For a dual-antenna configuration, the impact of gain imbalance on diversity gain is more significant when only one antenna element is in close proximity to the hand, compared to when both antenna elements are in the presence of the hand. It is also shown that a dual-antenna structure with elements vertically oriented along the edges of a small 100 mm × 40 mm mobile terminal chassis achieves better performance in port-to-port isolation, gain imbalance and diversity gain compared to other studied dual-antenna configurations when the user’s hand is present.     

Signal correlations and diversity gain of two-beam microcellantenna

The motivation of the present study is to investigate the possibility of using two independently directed antenna beams in a mobile base station to provide diversity gain and reduce fading problems in a microcellular environment. The signal correlation of the individual antenna beams is studied, and it is shown that correlation depends on beamwidth, separation angle of the antenna beams, and the location of the base-station antenna array. Signal correlations have been computed using narrow- and wide-beam antennas in two separate base-station antenna locations. Diversity gains of both antenna types have been optimized by selecting the beam orientations which minimize the signal correlation. The numerical simulations show that a considerable diversity gain can be obtained using this approach