On Radiated Performance Evaluation of Massive MIMO Devices in Multiprobe Anechoic Chamber OTA Setups

Radiated testing of massive multiple-input-multiple-output devices in fading radio-channel conditions is expected to be essential in the development of the fifth-generation (5G) base stations and user equipment (TIE) operating at or close to the millimeter-wave (mm-wave) frequencies. In this paper, we present a setup upgrading the multiprobe anechoic chamber-based system designed originally for 4G TIE. We describe methods for mapping radio-channel models onto the probe configuration and discuss the differences to the former 4G case. We also propose metrics to assess the accuracy of the test setup and find key design parameters by simulations. The results with the utilized channel models indicate that at 28 GHz, up to 16 × 16 planar arrays can be tested with a range length of 1 m and with at minimum eight active dual polarized probes.