A HARDWARE TESTBED FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION OF MIMO ALGORITHMS

Abstract

As the demand for higher performance wireless communications continues to grow, novel algorithms have been devel-oped which provide increased performance and eciency. One such class of algorithms involves the use of multiple antennas on either end of a wireless link. Many of these multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) algorithms oer im-pressive performance gains over their single antenna counterparts. The practicality of implementing such algorithms in a real system, however, is a topic in need of further exploration. We present in this paper a testbed designed speci cally to test such algorithms. This testbed provides hardware for baseband processing, up and downconversion to RF and emulation of multiple wireless channels. It was designed to provide sucient \nexibility to implement a wide range of algorithms while preserving the ability to evaluate an algorithm's resource and power requirements. The testbed hardware and conguration options are presented, along with a basic demonstration of its functionality. 1