Over-the-Air Testing of 5G Communication Systems: Validation of the Test Environment in Simple-Sectored Multiprobe Anechoic Chamber Setups

Over-the-air (OTA) radiated testing is seen as inevitable for 5G antenna systems. The simple-sectored multiprobe anechoic chamber (SS-MPAC) setup is a potential testing candidate for the evaluation of 5G antenna systems under real-world propagation conditions. Validation of emulated channel models in the practical SS-MPAC setup is essential, since it is important to ensure that the target channel models are correctly emulated. Our objective is to detect the joint-angle delay power profile of the reproduced channels in the SS-MPAC setup. In this article, we discuss two joint-angle delay estimation (JADE) algorithms: 1) an existing algorithm with high computation complexity as the reference method and 2) a novel, low-cost, sequential, 1D algorithm. Both numerical simulations and experimental verification measurements in a preliminary SS-MPAC setup are provided to validate the two discussed algorithms. The proposed sequential 1D search method is demonstrated to be highly accurate and effective and, therefore, is recommended for validation measurements in SS-MPAC setups. Measurement setup and procedures for test-environment validation are considered as well.