Exploiting the elevation dimension of MIMO system for boosting handset capacity

Recently there has been strong interest in extending the MIMO signal processing from the azimuth dimension to include the elevation plane. Therefore a 3D channel model is required for an accurate evaluation of MIMO performance. The MIMO system can also be deployed at the user terminal according to the LTE-Advanced system specifications. Therefore, this study exploits the elevation dimension at the user equipment (UE) MIMO receiver and proposes an antenna switching strategy to achieve the highest performance among the MIMO spatial streams. This study is considered as one of the solutions toward boosting MIMO capacity and enhancing end user experience for 5G systems. The study considers different types of user handsets such as smartphone and tablet where different scenarios of antennas placements are implemented and different number of antennas elements are deployed. The consideration of the 3D component in the modelling of the MIMO channels results in performance differences in the MIMO system in terms of ergodic capacity and spatial correlation as the handset rotates. The paper suggests the best arrangement of antenna elements for the UE handset manufacturers to achieve the highest channel capacity when exploiting the elevation plane.