Overview of LTE MIMO OTA Throughput Testing in Reverberation Chambers

It is not possible to do direct tests to find the best LTE multi-antenna configuration for optimizing antenna diversity gain, antenna MIMO capacity or device throughput with the traditional antenna measurement method, i.e. an anechoic chamber. Of the two alternatives for making direct measurements, i.e. drive tests and the reverberation chamber, the reverberation chamber offers many advantages. It creates an artificial, fully controlled and repeatable Rayleigh environment in which measurements are simple, fast and cost effective. The throughput results in the reverberation are highly repeatable which makes it easy to differentiate between good and bad LTE terminals.