Channel behavior for very-large MIMO systems - initial characterization

Wireless communication using very-large multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas is a new research field, where base stations are equipped with a very large number of antennas as compared to previously considered systems. Unlike the conventional small and compact antenna arrays, the very-large arrays may span many wavelengths in space, thus they can experience large-scale fading over the array. This power variation over the antenna array may be critical to algorithm design and performance evaluations for very-large MIMO systems, and it is thus important that it is included in channel models. Based on channel measurements using a 128-antenna linear array in a semi-urban area, we characterize and model the large-scale fading properties. We focus on cluster-based modeling which can be seen as an extension of the current COST 2100 channel model. In the paper, we report our latest channel behavior modeling progress for very-large MIMO systems.