Channel Spatial Characteristics In An Anechoic Chamber Based MIMO OTA Setup

Along with the emergence and widespread application of MIMO(Multiple Input Multiple Output) technology which is the core technology of the next generation mobile communication, the development of our wireless mobile communication industry has developed rapidly. The demand of MIMO OTA (Over-the-air) testing technology of evaluating MIMO device performance accurately has become increasingly urgent for mobile manufacturers and cellular operators.A wireless channel model which emulates a realistic environment can be reproduced in the anechoic chamber by the MIMO OTA testing technology based on the anechoic chamber method. Meanwhile, accurate evaluation can be made for the OTA performance of the MIMO device.The MIMO OTA testing technology has become an important field of the testing research.In detail,the main research focus on the following issues:1. Each of the MIMO OTA testing solutions has been summarized and compared for the aspects of testing speed, cost of the solution, scope of application, and the accuracy of the created channel environment. Along with the advantage of the anechoic chamber based testing solution, the current research of the MIMO OTA testing technology based on the anechoic chamber has been analyzed.2. Due to the importance of the channel spatial characteristics in the space domain to reconstruct the channel environment, three dimensional channel spatial characteristics combined with the genetic method has been introduced to emulate the three dimensional channel spatial characteristics based on the MIMO OTA setups.3. Based on the typical three dimensional configuration of 16 probes,the optimal physical configuration structure has been discussed. By rotating a certain angle of the probe ring in the anechoic chamber, the emulation accuracy of three dimensional channel spatial characteristics has been improved. Besides, further research has been done on the optimal structure of the probe configuration combined with the genetic method to emulate the three dimensional channel spatial characteristics.4. Some of the existed 32-probe configuration has been emulated and analyzed. Furthermore, several optimal 32-probe configuration has been discussed and the related three dimensional channel spatial characteristics in the test area has been emulated. At last, this paper analyses the impact of different physical configuration structure on the three dimensional channel spatial characteristics in the test area.