Analog Eigenmode Transmission for Short-Range MIMO

This paper proposes a method of implementing analog eigenmode transmission for a short-range multiple-input-multiple-output (SR-MIMO) system that uses only 180° hybrid couplers. If the short-range MIMO system places transmitting and receiving arrays in line-of-sight (LOS) and symmetrically with respect to specific reference planes, the channel matrix in the system also becomes symmetrical. This allows the channel matrix to be diagonalized by connecting 180° hybrid couplers to both ports at the transmitter and receiver sides, i.e., eigenmode transmission can be realized. In this paper, first, the theory of the proposed technique is explained by taking a 2 $\times$ 2 MIMO as an example, based on the characteristics of 180° hybrid coupler and the theory of the cascade-connected network. Moreover, an extension to the method that offers 4 $\times$ 4 MIMO is also proposed. This paper clarifies that this proposed technique can diagonalize the channel matrix, regardless of array configuration, such as type of antennas and antenna spacing, as long as the symmetry of the system configuration is assured. Furthermore, numerical results verify that the distance between the transmitter and the receiver has no effect on channel orthogonality. As a result, this technique partially avoids the performance degradation caused by array displacement, which is a major disadvantage of the conventional analog-beamforming-based decoding technique for short-range MIMO systems. Thus, the superiority of the proposed technique is clear.