Investigation of spatial correlation for two-user cooperative communication in indoor office environment

An experimental investigation of the spatial correlation for cooperative multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channel in an indoor environment is presented in this paper. The testbed is designed for a two-user cooperation channel sounding, operated at a carrier center frequency of 2.45GHz and a bandwidth of 100MHz. The measurements were conducted in a typical office environment. The spatial correlation is extracted based on the Kronecker channel model. The spatial correlation turns out to be surprisingly high for short-distance cooperative communication in a void office, and it drops rapidly with the increase of communication distance. Furthermore, the impact of environment itself on the spatial correlation was then studied by adding reflector and scatterers into the office. It shows that cooperation gets more benefits in the rich scattering and reflecting conditions.