Interference Limited MIMO Measurements

We evaluate the interference limited spectral efficiency of a small cellular network using measurements with 3 sites at an ISD of 750 m. Each 3-sector site is equipped with cross-polarized panel antennas. We provide an efficient method to estimate the MIMO capacity from the measured data. We then compare the capacities of SISO and 2x2 MIMO with and without interference. At a fixed SNR of 10 dB, our cross-polarized interference free 2x2 setup achieves 5.7 bps/Hz which compares well to findings from Manhattan. For the best serving BS, the median 2x2 capacity including the received power and a reuse factor of 9 is 1.7 bps/Hz. This value increases to 3 bps/Hz when using frequency reuse 3 and 4.7 bps/Hz with full reuse.