Effects of base station antenna height and mobile terminal movement on the vector propagation channels

In wireless communications, propagation characteristics of smart antenna systems can be described by vector channels. In order to accurately characterize and model vector channels, extensive measurements in realistic wireless environments are needed. This paper studies the variation of vector channels in non-stationary propagation environments which are caused by (a) deploying the base station antenna at different heights and keeping the mobile terminal stationary, (b) fixing the base station antenna height and moving the mobile terminal. Measurements of vector channel parameters in a non-line-of-sight (NOLOS) environment are taken by using a 1.8 GHz real-time smart antenna testbed with a uniform circular array at the base station. The experimental results regarding the spatial properties (DOA, multipath angle spread) and space-time correlation properties of vector channels are presented and discussed.