Abstract
Fading and inter-symbol interference (ISI) arising from multipath effects are a common source of both latency and packet errors in wireless communications. Test methods often require large environments to produce long delays that are enough to affect the communications between a transmitter and receiver. This paper presents a simple, compact test method to produce and isolate effects from multipath interference simulating these effects produced by discrete distances. Signals with controlled delays can be created and combined using multiple antennas in two isolated small (2 foot/60 cm) cubes constructed with microwave absorber. We demonstrated this with a pulsed RF signal and a signal from an 802.11 n access point with an internal antenna. This method can be further extended to provide a compact test-bed for almost any wireless interference or coexistence test.
Highlights
Multipath interference arises from a signal arriving at the receiver from multiple trajectories or paths from the transmitter
In this paper we present a simple method, using a compact test environment, to simulate and measure the multipath effects that arise from reflecting objects in a large environment
This paper is organized as follows: Section II provides an overview of prior work on tests conducted to measure fading and delay spreads arising from multipath interference; Section III introduces the test methodology used in this paper and analyzes its results; and Section IV concludes with a summary and future work
Summary
Multipath interference arises from a signal arriving at the receiver from multiple trajectories or paths from the transmitter These signals with different path lengths from environmental reflectors have two effects: 1) in the amplitude domain they cause fading by constructively or destructively interfering with the original (direct path) signal, and 2) in the time domain they cause a delay spread in the accumulated signal. I. Bassen antennas [1], and Monte Carlo simulations [2] and have been used to measure the effect of multipath interference in direct path and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) indoor environments. In this paper we present a simple method, using a compact test environment, to simulate and measure the multipath effects that arise from reflecting objects in a large environment. This paper is organized as follows: Section II provides an overview of prior work on tests conducted to measure fading and delay spreads arising from multipath interference; Section III introduces the test methodology used in this paper and analyzes its results; and Section IV concludes with a summary and future work
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