Massive MIMO channel modeling using map-based ray tracing method

Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), with giant array size and multi-dimension array structure, has been widely considered as a key physical layer technique in future wireless communications. With regarding the large number of antenna elements, some new challenges and issues are arising, e.g. modeling the near-field effects in MIMO channel and the high computational complexity. To solve these problems, a statistical channel model is proposed based on the cluster delay line (CDL) framework. The proposed model focuses on the spherical wavefront theory, thus can be applied to the massive MIMO system. Furthermore, the map-based ray tracing algorithm with low complexity is used to compute the statistical parameters, such as pathloss, delay spread, etc., The numerical analysis results show that the proposed channel model is enable to describe the main characteristics of massive MIMO channel.