A Simulation Framework for Multiple-Antenna Terminals in 5G Massive MIMO Systems

The recent interest in massive multiple in multiple out (MIMO) has spurred intensive work on massive MIMO channel modeling in the contemporary literature. However, current models fail to take the characteristics of terminal antennas into account. There is no massive MIMO channel model available that can be used for the evaluation of the influence of different antenna characteristics at the terminal side. In this paper, we provide a simulation framework that fills this gap. We evaluate the framework with antennas integrated into Sony Xperia handsets operating at 3.7 GHz as this spectrum is identified for the 5G new radio standard by 3rd Generation Partnership Project. The simulation results are compared with the measured terminal performance when communicating with the Lund University's massive MIMO testbed under the same loading conditions. Expressions are derived for comparison of the gain obtained from different diversity schemes computed from measured far-field antenna patterns. We conclude that the simulation framework yields the results close to the measured ones and that the framework can be used for antenna evaluation for terminals in a practical precoded massive MIMO system.