Emulating Realistic Bidirectional Spatial Channels for MIMO OTA Testing

This paper discusses over the air (OTA) testing for multiple input multiple output (MIMO) capable terminals with emphasis on modeling bidirectional spatial channel models in multiprobe anechoic chamber (MPAC) setups. In the literature, work on this topic has been mainly focused on how to emulate downlink channel models, whereas uplink channel is often modeled as free space line-of-sight channel without fading. Modeling realistic bidirectional (i.e., both uplink and downlink) propagation environments is essential to evaluate any bidirectional communication systems. There have been works stressing the importance of emulating full bidirectional channel and proposing possible directions to implement uplink channels in the literature. Nevertheless, there is no currently published work reporting an experimental validation of such concepts. In this paper, a general framework to emulate bidirectional channels for time division duplexing (TDD) and frequency division duplexing (FDD) communication systems is proposed. The proposed technique works for MPAC setups with arbitrary uplink and downlink probe configurations, that is, possibly different probe configurations (e.g., number of probes or their configurations) in the uplink and downlink. The simulation results are further supported by measurements in a practical MPAC setup. The proposed algorithm is shown to be a valid method to emulate bidirectional spatial channel models.