A simplified scheme for evaluating MIMO channel characteristics by combining ray tracing and the Kronecker model

Abstract

In this letter, we propose a simple method for analyzing the statistical properties of signal propagation in a line-of-sight (LOS) multipath fading environment, such as in inter-vehicle communications which use a Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO), Multiple-Input-Single-Output (MISO) or Single-Input-Multiple-Output (SIMO) system. Specifically, in our method, ray tracing is only used to calculate the spatial correlation characteristics between a pair of transmitting and receiving antenna points that are used as a reference in an outdoor model, and these characteristics are then applied to the Kronecker model to estimate the statistical properties of the surrounding areas. Compared with the results calculated by ray tracing alone or the simplified method that we proposed previously, it is found that the channel characteristics can be estimated to a high degree of accuracy with a very short computation time using the proposed method.