A Dual Band MIMO Channel Sounder at 2.2 and 3.5 GHz

TLDR

Antenna arrays are essential for future wireless systems to increase data rates and QoS, yet their performance depends on the propagation channel, making spatio‑temporal channel characterization crucial. This work introduces a wideband MIMO channel sounder operating at 2.2 and 3.5 GHz. The sounder employs multiple antenna array architectures and applies high‑resolution algorithms (unitary ESPRIT and SAGE) to measurement data to achieve greater resolution and accuracy. It enables double‑directional channel measurements, and the study reports beam‑pattern calibration results in anechoic chamber as well as illustrative propagation measurements.

Abstract

The use of antenna arrays for the future wireless systems is a good solution to increase data rates and quality of service. The performances of these systems are very dependent on the propagation channel between the transmitter and receiver sites. That makes the spatio-temporal characterization and modeling of the channel very crucial in this context. In this paper, we present a wideband MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) channel sounder at 2.2 and 3.5 GHz. It allows measuring the double directional properties of the propagation channel at emission and reception. Different architectures of antenna arrays are presented. The two high resolution algorithms unitary ESPRIT and SAGE are applied on measurement data to obtain more resolution and accuracy. Beam patterns measurement results for antenna arrays calibration in anechoic chamber are presented. Finally, some propagation measurement results are illustrated.