Personal Area Networks with Line-of-Sight MIMO O-ration

In this paper, the results of an on-body, line-of-sight (LOS), multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) channel sounding investigation are reported. Transmission takes place between on-body antennas and a uniform linear array, positioned at close range and within line-of-sight of each other. Due to the on-body location of the antennas, the influence of actual radio channel can no longer be separated from the effects of user behaviour and body proximity. This paper therefore argues that the composite channel must be considered. Post-processing of the recorded channels shows that their capacities outperform those from equivalent Rayleigh channels. Taking into account the clear LOS in the experiment, this appears counter-intuitive to the well-known fact that uncorrelated scattering results in high capacity. An analysis of the results highlights some less familiar facts and leads to an overview of capacity generating mechanisms in MIMO systems. The paper adds an analysis of the sensitivity of the capacity to the properties of the channel matrix, which is used for a discussion of the practical use of MIMO in personal and body area networks