Impact of BS antenna number and array geometry on single-user LTE-A data throughputs in realistic Macro and Pico cellular environments

This paper evaluates the theoretic performance of single-user multi-stream beamforming for heterogeneous LTE-A urban deployments (i.e. Macro and Pico cells). The work investigates the impact of six different Base Station (BS) antenna configurations on system level capacity. Our standard configuration assume 8 BS and 8 User Equipment (UE) antenna elements. To enhance capacity the BS antenna number was increased to 12 and 16. A 3D laser-scanned database for the city of Bristol (UK) was used as input to the 3D channel propagation model along with measured 3D complex voltage and polarimetric antenna patterns for the individual BS and UE antenna elements. More than 50,000 ray-traced Pico and Macro cellular links per BS configuration were investigated to ensure statistical relevance. Our analysis quantifies the capacity of an 8×8 Single-User Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (SU-MIMO) solution in realistic urban heterogeneous environments. Results address the system level benefits of increasing the number of BS antenna elements as well as the sensitivity of capacity to vertical and horizontal spatial element configurations.

[1]  Payam Maveddat,et al.  Enabling small cell deployment with HetNet , 2012 .

[2]  Di Kong,et al.  Closed-Loop Antenna Selection for Wireless LANs with Directional & Omni-Directional Elements , 2011, 2011 IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC Fall).

[3]  J. P. McGeehan,et al.  MIMO Exploitation of 3D Multipath Statistics in a Heterogeneous LTE-Advanced Network , 2013 .

[4]  A. R. Nix,et al.  Ray-tracing urban macrocell propagation statistics and comparison with WINNER II/+ measurements and models , 2012, 2012 Loughborough Antennas & Propagation Conference (LAPC).

[5]  Jianzhong Zhang,et al.  MIMO Technologies in 3GPP LTE and LTE-Advanced , 2009, EURASIP J. Wirel. Commun. Netw..

[6]  Angela Doufexi,et al.  Efficient Multielement Ray Tracing With Site-Specific Comparisons Using Measured MIMO Channel Data , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology.

[7]  Frederick W. Vook,et al.  3D Extension of the 3GPP/ITU Channel Model , 2013, 2013 IEEE 77th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC Spring).

[8]  Di Kong,et al.  Throughput sensitivity to antenna pattern and orientation in 802.11n networks , 2011, 2011 IEEE 22nd International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications.

[9]  A. R. Nix,et al.  Ray-tracing urban picocell 3D propagation statistics for LTE Heterogeneous Networks , 2013, 2013 7th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP).

[10]  Björn Halvarsson,et al.  LTE-A Field Measurements: 8x8 MIMO and Carrier Aggregation , 2013, 2013 IEEE 77th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC Spring).

[11]  The second phase of LTE-Advanced , 2013 .

[12]  Arne Simonsson,et al.  Deployment Aspects of LTE Pico Nodes , 2011, 2011 IEEE International Conference on Communications Workshops (ICC).

[13]  J. McGeehan,et al.  Impact of antenna patterns and orientations in heterogeneous LTE-Advanced networks , 2012, 2012 6th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP).

[14]  Andrew R. Nix,et al.  System level evaluation of UL and DL interference in OFDMA mobile broadband networks , 2011, 2011 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference.