Planar near-field to far-field transformation for massive MIMO systems

The massive or large scaled multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems have gained huge consideration due to high achievable data rates, reliable system performance and advantaged energy efficiency for future wireless networks. For such systems, we should have a keen knowledge of the channel model, the ways of configuration, spectral efficiency and so on. The obtaining of the far-field pattern in the massive MIMO system from measurements made in the near-field has attracted widespread attention recently. In this article, two basic techniques for accomplishing this have been proposed. In the first technique, the NTFF (near-field to far-field) transformation is based on the equivalence principle. While in the second technique, it is based on the plane wave spectrum (PWS) expansion. Both of the methods have their own advantages for the massive MIMO systems. One can drastically reduce the computation time and the other can make enormous reduction in the storage consumption. Experimental results show that the two transformation techniques are proved to be feasible and they are consistent with each other.