Capacity and Diversity Gains of MIMO Systems in Correlated Rician Fading Channels

This paper investigates the effect of Rician fading and correlation on the capacity and diversity of MIMO channels. The use of antenna arrays at both sides of the wireless communication link (MIMO systems) can result in high channel capacity provided the propagation medium is rich scattering or Rayleigh fading and the antenna arrays at both sides are uncorrelated. However, the presence of line-of-sight (LOS) component and correlation of real world wireless channel may affect the system performance. Block and frequency nonselective Rician fading channel is assumed, and the effect of Rician factor (K), and the correlation parameter (r) on the capacity and diversity gains of MIMO channels is investigated. We also endorsed the view point that the loss or gain in the capacity or diversity gains can be considered as an equivalent increase or decrease in the signal-to-noise power ratio (SNR). Index Terms — Correlation, fading, multiple-input multipleoutput (MIMO), diversity, Rician channel, spatial multiplexing.