NLOS capacity and time dispersion of a multipath fading MIMO channel using directive antennas in an underground WBAN application

This paper discusses the influence of the multipath richness on the multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) capacity of a patch antenna system at non-line-of-sight (NLOS). The study is based on real measurements in a former gold mine. It is shown that the MIMO capacity of the channel, at a constant SNR, increases with distance due to the increase in multipath richness. The effect of directivity on the MIMO channel parameters at NLOS is also discussed.