MIMO 2×2 absolute data throughput concept

MIMO over the air (OTA) test methodologies which emulate a realistic environment are under investigation in diverse standard bodies around the world and have not yet resulted in consensus. A test methodology which emulates a real scattered environment consists of several factors that contribute to the variability of measurement results: the recent measurement campaign sponsored by the Third Generation Partnership Project through its Technical Specification Group defined as Radio Access Network 4 (3GPP TSG RAN4) is one example. Starting from the unknown radiated performance of devices under test (DUT), an effort to create a set of reference antennas was identified, generating the MIMO 2×2 reference antennas [1], thus partially reducing the uncertainty over the candidate test methodologies. While the reference antennas define a known radiated performance of the DUT, any measurement campaign of this complexity must start from well defined baseline measurements among participant labs. Initially a simulation campaign was proposed to define such baseline. Soon this approach was refused due intellectual property (IP) embedded in each DUT manufacturer´s mobile device chipset, therefore disabling any attempt to share realistic DUT dependent LTE MIMO full-link simulation models. Investigating other technically sound options to establish a baseline measurement, and protect IP from every DUT manufacturer, a specialized conducted measurement was elaborated. This work will introduce the concept behind this measurement, also known as MIMO 2×2 Absolute Data Throughput.