MIMO Capacity Estimation at 2 GHz with a Ray Model in Urban Cellular Environment

MIMO technology promises a linear increase of capacity in function of the minimum antenna number at the transmitter and at the receiver. In order to test if these performances can be actually met in mobile communications, we propose here a study of MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) capacity in urban cellular environment at 2 GHz with a help of an efficient ray propagation model. We have tested different types of base station antennas (vertically or ±45° polarized) and two different types of mobile. Capacity is found to significantly increase between SISO (Single Input Single Output) and MIMO systems, but less than usually expected. We show that return and coupling losses as low as 10% can also reduce significantly the capacity. On the other hand, we study the influence of the way to take into account received power level on the MIMO capacity estimation.