Comparison of mimo single and multi-polarized measured channels in indoor WLAN scenarios

Dual-polarized antennas have been proposed as an interesting option to implement MIMO systems in realistic user terminals. In order to study the MIMO channel characteristics when multiple polarizations are considered, a measurement campaign was carried out by using a custom MIMO testbed. Both single and dual-polarized antennas were used, and several scenarios were measured, including indoor and outdoor transmitter location. The capacity analysis showed that the dual-polarized antennas offer a higher diversity for both indoor and outdoor to indoor scenarios when the receiver is moved along corridor routes. However, when the antenna gain is also considered, the achieved capacity for indoor office-like scenarios was slightly lower for the dual-polarized antennas, due to the lower antenna gain of the used elements.