A sub-Terahertz band is envisioned to play a great role in 6G to achieve extreme high data-rate communication. In addition to very wide band transmission, we need spatial multiplexing using a hybrid MIMO system. A recently presented paper, however, reveals that the number of observed multipath components in a sub-Terahertz band is very few in indoor environments. A channel with few multipath components is called sparse. The number of layers (streams), i.e. multiplexing gain in a MIMO system does not exceed the number of multipaths. The sparsity may restrict the spatial multiplexing gain of sub-Terahertz systems, and the poor multiplexing gain may limit the data rate of communication systems. This paper describes fundamental considerations on sub-Terahertz MIMO spatial multiplexing in indoor environments. We examined how we should steer analog beams to multipath components to achieve higher channel capacity. Furthermore, for different beam allocation schemes, we investigated eigenvalue distributions of a channel Gram matrix, power allocation to each layer, and correlations between analog beams. Through simulation results, we have revealed that the analog beams should be steered to all the multipath components to lower correlations and to achieve higher channel capacity.

A time-reversal (TR) approach with multiple signal classification (MUSIC) provides super-resolution for detection and localization using multistatic data collected from an array antenna system. The theory of TR-MUSIC assumes that the number of antenna elements is greater than that of scatterers (targets). Furthermore, it requires many sets of frequency-domain data (snapshots) in seriously noisy environments. Unfortunately, these conditions are not practical for real environments due to the restriction of a reasonable antenna structure as well as limited measurement time. We propose an approach that treats both noise reduction and relaxation of the transceiver restriction by using a time-domain gating technique accompanied with the Fourier transform before applying the TR-MUSIC imaging algorithm. Instead of utilizing the conventional multistatic data matrix (MDM), we employ a modified MDM obtained from the gating technique. The resulting imaging functions yield more reliable images with only a few snapshots regardless of the limitation of the antenna arrays.

Ultrawide-band impulse radio (UWB-IR) technology and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems have attracted interest regarding their use in next-generation high-speed radio communication. We have studied the use of MIMO ultrawide-band (MIMO-UWB) systems to enable higher-speed radio communication. We used frequency-domain equalization based on the minimum mean square error criterion (MMSE-FDE) to reduce intersymbol interference (ISI) and co-channel interference (CCI) in MIMO-UWB systems. Because UWB systems are expected to be used for short-range wireless communication, MIMO-UWB systems will usually operate in line-of-sight (LOS) environments and direct waves will be received at the receiver side. Direct waves have high power and cause high correlations between antennas in such environments. Thus, it is thought that direct waves will adversely affect the performance of spatial filtering and equalization techniques used to enhance signal detection. To examine the feasibility of MIMO-UWB systems, we conducted MIMO-UWB system propagation measurements in LOS environments. From the measurements, we found that the arrival time of direct waves from different transmitting antennas depends on the MIMO configuration. Because we can obtain high power from the direct waves, direct wave reception is critical for maximizing transmission performance. In this paper, we present our measurement results, and propose a way to improve performance using a method of transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) timing control. We evaluate the bit error rate (BER) performance for this form of timing control using measured channel data.

A distributed antenna system, where the antennas of a base station are spatially distributed throughout the cell, can achieve better throughput at the cell edge than a centralized antenna system. On the other hand, the peak throughput degrades in general because each remote antenna unit has only a few antennas. To achieve both high peak and cell-edge throughputs, we need to increase the total number of antennas. However, this is not easy due to the pilot resource limitation when we use frequency division duplexing. In this paper, we propose using more antennas than pilot resources. The number mismatch between antennas and signals is solved by using a connection matrix. Here, we test two types of connection matrix: signal-distributing and signal-switching. Simulation results show that the sum throughput is improved by increasing the number of antenna elements per remote antenna unit under a constraint on the same number of pilot resources.

Currently, space division multiplexing (SDM), where individual data streams are transmitted from different antennas simultaneously, is expected to be a promising technology for achieving a high data rate within a limited frequency band in a multiple-input multiple-output channel. In this paper, transmitter and receiver architectures of SDM applications are described, and performance improvement with the increase of data streams is shown referring to results of computer simulations. In addition, channel coded systems are also evaluated.

We consider space division multiplexing in a MIMO-OFDM system for high data rate transmission. Channel estimation is very important for suppressing interference and demultiplexing signals. In a wireless LAN system such as IEEE 802.11a, only a few training symbols are inserted in each subcarrier. First, we propose a channel estimation method for a MIMO-OFDM system with two training symbols per subcarrier. The basic idea is to estimate the time-domain channel responses between the transmit and receive antennas. The array response vectors for each subcarrier are calculated by applying a fast Fourier transform to them. We then can obtain the adaptive weights to cancel the interference. We show that employing training symbols having a lower condition number of the matrix used for the channel estimation improves the estimation accuracy. Furthermore, we show the bit error rate for several signal detection schemes using the above estimated channel. It is shown that an ordered successive detection based on an MMSE criterion has excellent performance, that is, it can achieve higher-speed transmissions with a lower transmit power.

A uniform circular array (UCA) is a well-known array configuration which can accomplish estimation of 360 field of view with identical accuracy. However, a UCA cannot estimate coherent signals because we cannot apply the SSP owing to the structure of UCA. Although a variety of studies on UCA in coherent multipath environments have been done, it is impossible to estimate the DOA of coherent signals with different incident polar angles. Then, we have proposed Root-MUSIC algorithm with a cylindrical array. However, the estimation performance is degraded when incident signals arrive with close polar angles. To solve this problem, in the letter, we propose to use SAGE algorithm with a cylindrical array. Here, we adopt a CLA Root-MUSIC for the initial estimation and decompose two-dimensional search to double one-dimensional search to reduce the calculation load. The results show that the proposal achieves high resolution with low complexity.

MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) technologies have attracted much interest for high-rate and high-capacity wireless communications. MIMO technologies under frequency-selective fading environments (wideband MIMO technologies) have also been studied. A wideband MIMO system is affected by ISI (Inter Symbol Interference) and CCI (Co-Channel Interference). Hence, we need a MIMO signal detection technique that simultaneously suppresses ISI and CCI. The OFDM system and SC-FDE (Single Carrier-Frequency Domain Equalization) techniques are often used for suppressing ISI. By employing these techniques with the ZF (Zero Forcing) or the MMSE (Minimum Mean Square Error) spatial filtering technique, we can cancel both ISI and CCI. To use ZF or MMSE, we need channel state information for calculating the receive weights. Although an LS (Least Square) channel estimation technique has been proposed for MIMO-OFDM systems, it needs a large estimation matrix at the receiver side to obtain sufficient estimation performance in heavy multipath environments. However, the use of a large matrix increases computational complexity and the circuit size. We use frequency domain channel estimation to solve these problems and propose an iterative method for achieving better estimation performance. In this paper, we assume the use of a MIMO-UWB system that employs a UWB-IR (Ultra-Wideband Impulse Radio) scheme with the FDE technique as the wideband wireless transmission scheme for heavy multipath environments, and we evaluate the iterative frequency domain channel estimation through computer simulations and computational complexity calculations.

In time-varying fading environments, the performance of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems applying an eigenbeam-space division multiplexing (E-SDM) technique may be degraded due to a channel change during the time interval between the transmit weight matrix determination and the actual data transmission. To compensate for the channel change, we have proposed some channel prediction methods. Simulation results based on computer-generated channel data showed that better performance can be obtained when using the prediction methods in Rayleigh fading environments assuming the Jakes model with rich scatterers. However, actual MIMO systems may be used in line-of-sight (LOS) environments, and even in a non-LOS case, scatterers may not be uniformly distributed around a receiver and/or a transmitter. In addition, mutual coupling between antennas at both the transmitter and the receiver cannot be ignored as it affects the system performance in actual implementation. We conducted MIMO channel measurement campaigns at a 5.2 GHz frequency band to evaluate the channel prediction techniques. In this paper, we present the experiment and simulation results using the measured channel data. The results show that robust bit-error rate performance is obtained when using the channel prediction methods and that the methods can be used in both Rayleigh and Rician fading environments, and do not need to know the maximum Doppler frequency.

MIMO systems using a space division multiplexing (SDM) technique in which each transmit antenna sends an independent signal substream have been studied as one of the successful applications to increase data rates in wireless communications. The throughput of a MIMO channel can be maximized by using an eigenbeam-SDM (E-SDM) technique, and this paper investigates the practical performance of 22 and 44 MIMO E-SDM based on indoor measurements. The channel capacity and bit error rate obtained in various uniform linear array configurations are evaluated and are compared with the corresponding values for conventional SDM. Analysis results show that the bit error rate performance of E-SDM is better than that of SDM and that E-SDM gives better performance in line-of-sight (LOS) conditions than in non-LOS ones. They also show that the performance of E-SDM in LOS conditions depends very much on the array configuration.

Recently, much progress has been made in the study of belief propagation (BP) based signal detection with large-scale factor graphs. When we apply the BP algorithm to equalization in a SISO multipath channel, the corresponding factor graph has many short loops and patterns in an edge connection/strength. Thus, proper convergence may not be achieved. In general, the log-likelihood ratio (LLR) oscillates in ill-converged cases. Therefore, LLR oscillation avoidance is important for BP-based equalization. In this paper, we propose applying node selection (NS) to prevent the LLR from oscillating. The NS extends the loop length virtually by a serial LLR update. Thus, some performance improvement is expected. Simulation results show that the error floor is significantly reduced by NS in the uncoded case and that the NS works very well in the coded case.

For simulating i.i.d. time-varying MIMO channels using multiple Jakes' rings, it is desirable to generate channels having stable statistics with fewer scatterers. The statistical property of the conventional Jakes' model may depend on the initial phase set assigned to scattering points. In this letter, we present simple and effective conditions on arrangement of scattering points to achieve stable fading properties. The results show that the proposed arrangement provides higher statistical stability in generating time-varying channels.

Mainly, a uniform linear array (ULA) has been used for DOA estimation of coherent signals because we can apply the spatial smoothing preprocessing (SSP) technique. However, estimation by a ULA has ambiguity due to the symmetry, and the estimation accuracy depends on the DOA. Although these problems can be solved by using a uniform circular array (UCA), we cannot estimate the DOA of coherent signals because the SSP technique cannot be applied directly to the UCA. In this paper, we propose to estimate 2-dimensional DOA (polar angles and azimuth angles) estimation of coherent signals using a cylindrical array which is composed of stacked UCAs.

We evaluated the behavior of a multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system in time-varying channels using measured data. A base station for downlink or broadcast transmission requires downlink channel state information (CSI), which is outdated in time-varying environments and we encounter degraded performance due to interference. One of the countermeasures against time-variant environments is predicting channels with an autoregressive (AR) model-based method. We modified the AR prediction for a time division duplex system. We conducted measurement campaigns in indoor environments to verify the performance of the scheme of channel prediction in an actual environment and measured channel data. We obtained the bit-error rate (BER) using these data. The AR-model-based technique of prediction assuming the Jakes' model was found to reduce BER. Also, the optimum AR-model order was investigated by using the channel data we measured.

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems using eigenbeam space division multiplexing (E-SDM) perform well and have increased capacities compared with those using conventional space division multiplexing (SDM). However, channel state information (CSI) is required at a transmitter, and the performance of E-SDM systems depends much on the accuracy of the CSI at a transmitter and a receiver. In time-varying fading environments, the channel change between the transmit weight determination time and the actual data transmission time causes the system performance to degrade. To compensate for the channel error, a linear extrapolation method has been proposed for a time division duplexing system. Unfortunately, the system performance still deteriorates as the maximum Doppler frequency increases. Here, two new techniques of channel extrapolation are proposed. One is second order extrapolation, and the other is exponential extrapolation. Also, we propose maximum Doppler frequency estimation methods for exponential extrapolation. Simulation results for 4tx 4rx MIMO systems showed that using the proposed techniques, E-SDM system performs better in a higher Doppler frequency region.