Performance of Generalized Spatial Modulation MIMO Over Measured 60GHz Indoor Channels

Abstract

In this paper, we study the capacity and symbol error probability (SEP) of generalized spatial modulation (GSM) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) using measured channels that are obtained by channel sounding in an indoor office environment at 60GHz. Spatial modulation (SM) and GSM are emerging low-complexity MIMO schemes that have been extensively researched for low-GHz (below 6GHz) communications. Recently, they have been considered and shown to be promising also for (mmWave) communications. In the simplest possible case, they require only one RF chain both at the transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX), and thus, are especially attractive for mmWave communications, in which the number of RF chains needs to be as low as possible. Despite of some early works on the theoretical analysis of SM/GSM for mmWave communications, there have been no investigations using real-world channel data. We focus on the office line-of-sight (LOS) scenario and investigate three problems: 1) the performance of GSM using the extracted LOS component of measured channels; 2) the impact of non-LOS NLOS components on the performance of GSM; and 3) possible simple modulation and reception algorithms for GSM that rely only on the LOS component of the channel. The results being reported in this paper not only validate the main claims of previous studies based on ideal pure LOS channels, but also lead to novel findings. One major conclusion is that NLOS components are harmful to the SEP of GSM and should be avoided. As another important outcome, our results strongly motivate the use of precoding in GSM systems to simultaneously improve the channel capacity and reduce the physical size of MIMO arrays (thus eliminating one major issue of LOS GSM).