Multifrequency Wireless Channel Measurements and Characterization in Large Indoor Office Environments

Abstract

This article performs extensive channel measurements and characteristics analysis to investigate large-scale fading (LSF) and small-scale fading (SSF) of wireless local area network (WLAN) channels in large indoor office environments. Multifrequency single-input–single-output (SISO) channel measurements are conducted at 3, 5.5, and 6.5 GHz under the same conditions to explore the frequency dependence of LSF, delay spread (DS), and <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K$ </tex-math></inline-formula> -factor (KF). Then, SISO channel measurements with different half-power beamwidths (HPBWs) of antennas are performed at 5.5 GHz in access point (AP) to user equipment (UE) and AP-to-AP scenarios. The effects of antenna HPBW on LSF, DS, and KF are investigated, thereby inspiring the AP deployment in high-density (HD) scenarios. Finally, <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$32 \times 64$ </tex-math></inline-formula> multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) channel measurements at 5.5 GHz are conducted to study the SSF of the time nonstationarity and multilink correlation. The time nonstationarity, including the parameters’ drifting and cluster evolution caused by the movement of the UE, is verified by the measurement results. Multilink correlations are illustrated from the perspectives of the angular power spectral density (APSD) and correlation matrix collinearity (CMC). The results show that the distance between users and separation angle can affect the multilink correlation.