Electromagnetic Characterization of MIMO Communication Systems

The increasing demand for high-speed, high-quality mobile communication has fueled interest in spectrumefficient multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communication links. Designing, deploying, and evaluating MIMO communication links in realistic environments, however, is challenging due to the sitespecific nature of the propagation channel and the complex electromagnetic interactions between the antenna arrays and the environment. To dissect the influence of various electromagnetic phenomena on the total MIMO communication channel, in this paper a hybrid computational electromagnetic simulation methodology is proposed that accounts for both near-field and far-field interactions. The hybrid nature of the simulator allows study of the impact of array geometry, power normalization, and antenna separation on the performance of the MIMO communication channel. The power and flexibility of this approach is demonstrated through a series of simulation experiments that illustrate the variation of the mutual information as a function of the mutual coupling, small-scale propagation, and large-scale propagation in various urban environments. Simulations shows substantial variations as a function of topography, antenna placement, and coupling.