A Low-Cost and Efficient Single Probe Based MIMO OTA Measurement Method

Abstract

As the multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) technologies are increasingly emerging in the arena of modern wireless systems, their cost-effective and efficient over-the-air (OTA) performance verification under arbitrary fading channels, especially, for high-volume beam-reconfigurable product verifications, play a crucial role toward their technology adoption. The 2-D multi-probe anechoic chamber (MPAC) MIMO OTA measurement method has been well-developed, but requires both precise infrastructure and heavy calibration. Moreover, the extension to 3-D channel model appears impractical for the MPAC method with its significantly increased probe numbers in 3-D scenario. To address these challenges, we propose a novel single-probe anechoic chamber (SPAC) measurement method that transforms spatial synthesization of MPAC into time synthesization whereby the only source of measurement error can be restrained in time synchronization. The wireless community can be widely benefited with this proposed low-cost and efficient methodology, especially in the research and product prototyping stage. In this article, a proof-of-concept measurement system has been designed and implemented, which validates the efficiency of the proposed solution.