Propagation characteristics of massive MIMO measurements in a UMa scenario at 3.5 & 6 GHz with 100 & 200 MHz bandwidth

Abstract

Massive multi-input and multi-output (MIMO), which uses large-scale antenna arrays to improve spatial efficiency, strengthen performance robustness, etc., is one of primary technologies of 5G wireless communication. To gain further insights into the massive MIMO channel, measurements with the virtual antenna array of the same structure (256 antennas at transmitter and 16 antennas at receiver) are performed in an urban macrocell scenario (UMa) at different frequencies (3.5 & 6 GHz) with different bandwidths (100 & 200 MHz). The enormous collected channel impulse responses enable us to present comparative results including the power delay profile, delay spread and extract angular parameters via SAGE algorithm. Furthermore, angle spread values are illustrated as a direct reflection of massive MIMO channel propagation, then we present comparative channel capacity results. Collectively, these results will shed light on the design of massive MIMO system in UMa environments.