Number of Multipath Clusters in Indoor MIMO Propagation Environments

An essential parameter of physical, propagation based MIMO channel models is the number of multipath clusters. In this paper we determine the total number of clusters and the number of dominant clusters in the angle-of-arrival/angle-of-departure domain based on comprehensive indoor MIMO measurements at 5.2 GHz in a cluttered office environment. For the dominant multipath clusters we find a mean number of 7.6 with a standard deviation of 2.4, whereas the total number of clusters varies strongly even within a single room of the environment. Introduction: The use of multiple antennas at both link ends (MIMO) in wireless communications promises high spectral efficiency and reliability. Accurate channel models are required for proper design of signal processing algorithms. One important parameter is the number of (dominant) multipath clusters. There are various definitions of “clusters” (e.g. [1]). The most accurate definition would be a group of multi-path components with similar angle-of-arrival (AoA), angle-of-departure (AoD), and delay. As