Simulation of a wideband reconfigurable multi-antenna system with space-time coding

Paper in proceeding, 2008

Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems will play a crucial role in the future of wireless systems, for example multiple antenna techniques can be a key to boost the performance of modern wireless systems. In order to study the performance and complexity of MIMO systems, a suitable simulation tool is essential. Simulation is important in system architecture exploration, algorithm optimization and bottleneck detection. Simulation is also a powerful tool when designing various components in an antenna system like electromagnetic solvers for radiation patterns and circuit simulation for amplifiers, but simulating an entire antenna system is not usual. In this paper the capabilities of MathWorks Simulink as a simulation platform for MIMO systems have been investigated and a typical MIMO-WCDMA link has been developed. Some of the blocks were used from the WCDMA library and others were developed accordingly. The Space-Time encoder and decoder for a general MIMO link were also developed. Furthermore, in order to be able to test different antenna types in a system, the antenna block is separated from the channel. Henceforth a double directional channel has been developed based on the SCM (spatial channel model) proposed by 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), which is an environmental channel independent from the antenna. The results of the simulation shows that Simulink is a capable platform for simulation of an entire communication link.