Evaluation of True Polarization Diversity for MIMO Systems

MIMO systems where multipath fading is only partially correlated could use polarization diversity to provide a higher diversity gain. Recent letters have proposed the use of tri-polarized antennas and a novel true polarization diversity (TPD) scheme. In this paper, the full potential of TPD is evaluated with both simulations and measurements and compared to conventional orthogonal polarization diversity (OPD). MIMO system performance with respect to capacity and diversity gain is obtained through the use of multimode-stirred chambers for both isotropic and non-isotropic environments. Simulated and measured results in over 591 different MIMO systems show that TPD outperforms conventional OPD for reduced volumes. Likewise, it has been demonstrated that TPD can be effectively combined with spatial diversity to nearly double the diversity gain and MIMO capacity for the same available handset volume.