Politecnico Di Milano

Drexel University

Other

John Kountouriotis

Daniele Piazza

Kapil R Dandekar

Michele D'Amico

Prathaban Mookiah

A method allows reconfigurable multi-element antennas to select the antenna configuration in MIMO, SIMO and MISO communication system. This selection scheme uses spatial correlation, channel reciprocal condition number, delay spread and average Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) information to select the antenna radiation pattern at the receiver. Using this approach, it is possible to achieve capacity gains in a multi-element reconfigurable antenna system without modifying the data frame of a conventional wireless communication system. The capacity gain achievable with this configuration selection approach is calculated through numerical simulations using reconfigurable circular patch antennas at the receiver of a MIMO system that employs minimum mean square error receivers for channel estimation. Channel capacity and Bit Error Rate (BER) results show the improvement offered relative to a conventional antenna selection technique for reconfigurable MIMO systems.

Systems and methods for selecting reconfigurable antennas in MIMO systems

The invention relates to a method () for configuring a reconfigurable antenna system (). The method () comprises the following steps: a) selecting one or more groups of antenna configurations in a reference set of antenna configurations; and b) selecting one or more antenna configurations to be tested for each group of antenna configurations, which has been selected at the previous step a); and c) evaluating the radiating performance of said reconfigurable antenna system () for each antenna configuration, which has been selected at the previous step b), the radiating performance of said reconfigurable antenna system being evaluated on the base of estimation values that are calculated during one or more testing sessions of said reconfigurable antenna system; and d) selecting the optimal antenna configuration, for which said reconfigurable antenna system () has provided the best radiating performance during said testing sessions; and e) if the group of antenna configurations, to which said optimal antenna configuration belongs, comprises only said optimal antenna configuration, configuring said antenna elements () according to said optimal antenna configuration; or f) if the group of antenna configurations, to which said optimal antenna configuration belongs, comprises a plurality of antenna configurations, selecting said group of antenna configuration as new reference set of antenna configurations; and g) repeating the previous steps (a)-(d) for said new reference set of antenna configurations.

Method for configuring a reconfigurable antenna system

Reconfigurable antennas in an ad-hoc network are provided where all nodes employ MIMO/SIMO/MISO communication techniques. Three types of reconfigurable antennas: Reconfigurable Printed Dipole Array (RPDA), Reconfigurable Circular Patch Antenna (RCPA) and Two-Port Reconfigurable CRLH Leaky Wave Antennas are used. The RPDA, RCPA and the CRLH Leaky Wave antennas have a different number of configurations as well as different degrees of pattern diversity between possible configurations. To effectively use these antennas in a network, the performance of centralized and decentralized antenna configuration selection schemes are quantified for reconfiguration at one or both link ends. The sum capacity of the network is used as a metric to quantify the performance of these antennas in measured and simulated network channels.

Growing community of inventors

Philadelphia, PA, United States of America

John Kountouriotis