Multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems have attracted much attention as they can provide increased channel capacity within a limited frequency band. In some important applications, such as wireless LAN and cellular systems, MIMO systems will likely operate in environments for which a single base station should simultaneously communicate with many users. Such applications require development of multiuser(MU)-MIMO techniques. The prior work on MU-MIMO systems have resulted in derivation of the ideal channel capacity as well as various proposed schemes for transmission control and scheduling. In order to incorporate MU-MIMO technologies into commercial systems, extensive evaluations are needed, since the amount of system parameters in MU-MIMO is much larger as compared to the Signleuser(SU)-MIMO. Due to such a volume of system parameters, the performance of MU-MIMO in actual systems is still not well understood. This paper describes MU-MIMO testbed which can deal with 8times8 MIMO-OFDM transmission based on the IEEE 802.11a signal format. We have conducted experiments in an actual indoor environment in order to evaluate the frequency utilization for downlink scheme implemented in the MU-MIMO testbed. Finally, we discuss the effectiveness of MU-MIMO for SU-MIMO when the number of receiving antennas is changed

Multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems increase the channel capacity within the limited frequency band. MIMO techniques can be combined with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), which is known to combat frequency selectivity in wireless channels. When channel state information (CSI) is available at the transmitter, the eigenvector beamforming method is well known to achieve the maximum channel capacity. However, the performance of eigenvector beamforming, which employs both modulation and forward error correction schemes, is not very well understood. In this paper, we evaluate the channel capacity and the frequency utilization of an eigenvector beamforming method in an actual indoor environment using an 8times4 MIMO-OFDM testbed that we developed. The experiment results indicate that the transmission bit rate increases offered by the eigenvector beamforming method in 4times4 MIMO and 8times4 MIMO channels are 3.83 fold and 4.90 fold larger than the performance of conventional transmission in SISO channel respectively and these ratios are larger than the increases in the channel capacity

This work proposes a novel MIMO-SDMA configuration using dual polarization antennas at the base and terminal stations. In this scheme, based on the transmission speed required by the terminal stations and the spatial correlation between the terminal stations, the base station determines the combination and number of antennas on which the terminal stations transmit Thus, the proposed configuration obtains high spectrum efficiency while improving the transmission speed required for broadband wireless communications. Moreover, the proposed configuration improves the output SINR compared to the conventional SDMA when multi-rate transmission is employed based on computer simulation.

This paper presents a multipath propagation model for microcells in urban areas. The proposed model is a statistical geometric model that describes the propagation characteristics for propagation loss, power delay profiles, and power azimuth spectra. The applicable target of the proposed model is long-term characteristics such as the characteristics that depend on the height of a base station (BS) and the distance between the BS and a mobile station. Calculated power delay profiles and power azimuth spectra based on the model are similar to those of the power function. In order to verify the validity of the model, the power delay profiles and power azimuth spectra are measured. The measurement results agree well with the simulation results based on the model and the validity of the model is confirmed.

The pattern averaging gain (PAG) method to estimate the average gain of mobile antennas in a multipath propagation environment is proposed. By using this method and a wire-grid model, the radiation characteristics of the planar invertedFantenna (PIFA) mounted on a portable radio case is analyzed. In particular, the variation of the antenna gain with the radio case dimensions and inclination angle of the radio case during operation is clarified. Also, the effect on antenna patterns of the operator holding the portable radio is experimentally investigated. Based on this analysis, the antenna configuration with the PIFA element mounted on the lateral side of the radio case is found to be most suitable for portable radio units. In addition, an appropriate selection of the radio case dimensions is found to result in further improvements in the antenna bandwidth.