LTE MIMO throughput measurement method for characterization of multi-antenna terminal performance

This paper presents experiences and results from LTE MIMO throughput measurements of a USB dongle in a reverberation test system. The measurements are performed with the dongle itself and also when it is connected to external diversity antennas with high and low correlation. Three different maximum bit rates are used, 59, 70 and 81 Mbps. The results illustrate that it is possible to separate a good antenna design from a bad from reverberation chamber measurements. Also, the effect of using a laptop test fixture, or a laptop dummy, instead of having the host computer present in the chamber, is demonstrated. It is shown that the noise induced by the host computer degrades the performance of the dongle.