MIMO channel measurements with different antennas in different environments

Questions of providing MIMO infrastructure rise with continued standardization of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radio techniques. Depending on the environment, the usage of special antennas might be advantageous. In aircraft cabins so called leaky lines are installed for usage with mobile phones according to the GSM standard. When establishing a point-to-point-link, antennas which exhibit a directional characteristic might be useful. When providing a MIMO setup in a room or office with no predictable placement of terminals, omnidirectional antennas are the best choice. In this paper measurement campaigns are presented, in which an experimental MIMO system is used with different types of antennas on transmitter side, in an office-like environment and in an aircraft cabin, to evaluate the influence of the usage of different types of antennas on the measured MIMO channel in those environments, in terms of capacity, spatial correlation and delay spread. It is found that neither different antenna types nor the aircraft cabin heavily affect the measured MIMO channel capacity.