Single-Carrier Spatial Modulation for the Internet of Things: Design and Performance Evaluation by Using Real Compact and Reconfigurable Antennas

In this paper, for the first time, we propose two new solutions to boost the data rate between small connected objects such as glasses and cams and the 5th generation (5G) mobile network, based on spatial modulation, single-carrier waveform, compact reconfigurable antennas at the object side and massive multiple input multiple output (M-MIMO) at the network side. In the first new wireless communication system, a “transmitting object” uses transmit spatial modulation with a compact reconfigurable antenna and a constant envelop amplifier to transmit in high data rate with low complexity and low power consumption. The space-time digital processing capability of the M-MIMO 5G base station is used to detect such signal. In the second new wireless communication system, a “receiving object” uses receive spatial modulation, a compact multiport antenna and a low complexity detection algorithm to receive in high data rate with a low complexity signal processing. The space-time beamforming capability of the M-MIMO 5G base stations is exploited to deliver a signal that is pre-equalized enough to be detected by the object. For the first time, we present experiments showing that M-MIMO allows for the re-introduction of single-carrier modulation waveform. For the first time, we present performance results obtained with real existing compact antennas and compact reconfigurable antennas, showing that the two new communication systems outperform conventional modulation in terms of energy efficiency and complexity.