Significance of common scatterers in multi-link indoor radio wave propagation

Correlation between different links is an essential characteristic for many of the forthcoming radio communication systems that utilize the multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) technology. This paper investigates the physical phenomena that cause the inter-link correlation by introducing a measure to quantify how large amount of energy propagates via similar propagation mechanisms in different links. The conditions for the so-called significance of common scatterers are derived and two dynamic dual-link indoor MIMO channel measurements are used to provide experimental results. The present work forms the indispensable basis for the channel modeling of multiuser MIMO communications.