A Network Model for Evaluating MIMO Backscatter Systems Considering Mutual Coupling

In this contribution a simulation framework for investigating arbitrary M × L × N MIMO backscatter systems in terms of their communication capabilities is presented. The framework is implemented as a network model, based on various cascaded scattering parameter blocks representing the different parts of the dyadic communication link, i.e. the channel, the RFID reader transmit (TX) and receive (RX) antennas, the tag antennas as well as the TX/RX load impedances and the tag signaling matrix. The antenna mutual coupling at all three arrays is considered. With the model on the one hand e.g. the spatial multiplexing backscatter data transmission between tag and reader can be assessed in terms of the symbol error ratio. On the other hand theoretical figures of merit like the capacity of the transmission link can be investigated by determining the effective channel matrices for the forward and reverse link including the coupled antennas.