Measurement of the MIMO UWB OFDM channel

The designation of the 3-10 GHz frequency band for ultra-wideband (UWB) communications has led to the emergence of competing standards designed to facilitate high data-rate personal area networks (PAN). In particular, the IEEE 802.15.3 standard provides a multi-band physical layer to use all of the wide bandwidth while avoiding the frequency selective fading common to UWB channels. None of the proposed UWB techniques make use of spectrum efficient multiple input multiple output (MIMO) techniques in part because the characteristics of MIMO UWB OFDM channels are not well understood. This paper presents the results of measurements that characterize the MIMO UWB OFDM wireless channel over the frequencies from 3-6 GHz. Analysis of these measurements demonstrates the clear benefit of incorporating MIMO techniques into UWB OFDM communications to increase network capacity and system reliability.