Uncertainties in estimating ergodic MIMO capacity and diversity gain of multiport antenna systems with different port weights

The performance of multiport antenna systems located in multipath environment is characterized by their ergodic capacity and diversity gain. The impact on convergence and statistical uncertainties involved in the estimation and evaluation of these performance metrics is studied for different port weights (i.e. different embedded element efficiencies) and correlations. The study is performed by using an upgraded version of the multipath simulation tool Rayleigh Lab which emphasizes the presentation of the statistical characteristics on the ports rather than the electromagnetic modelling. Therefore, the Rayleigh fading channels are generated in a very simple way by using arrays of randomly distributed complex numbers, and the user can input efficiencies and correlations rather than farfield functions and mutual couplings.