On the performance of three‐dimensionalantenna arrays in millimetre wave propagation environments

Abstract

In order to reap the full scale of benefits of millimetre wave (mmWave) massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, the design of antenna arrays at the transmitter or receiver becomes more critical due to the propagation characteristic at mm-frequencies. In this study, the authors investigate the performance of two types of antenna array, namely uniform rectangular planar array (URPA) and uniform cylindrical array (UCYA). The channel behaviour is presented in full-dimensional mmWave propagation conditions by considering both the azimuth and elevation dimensions. The squared inner product and singular value spread are studied for URPA and UCYA configurations, these properties reveal the effective interference and channel's stability of antenna array. The authors also evaluate the achievable rate with the equal power allocation and water-pouring power allocation schemes. Simulation results show that under the same system configurations, the performance that includes the radiation pattern, the channel eigenvalue distribution, the effective interference, and the achievable rate, of UCYA configuration always outperforms that of URPA configuration. Therefore, it can be concluded that in three-dimensional propagation environments, the UCYA configuration is especially appealing for mmWave MIMO systems.