A Matrix Channel Model for Transmit and Receive Smart Antennas Systems

The availability of realistic propagation channel models and, computationally affordable channel simulators are a fundamental brick to test the performance of wireless communication systems, during initial design phases. Nowadays, when fading mitigation techniques in both temporal and spatial domains attract designers´ interest, such models need to convey reliable information on both spatial and temporal correlations of the fading processes affecting the transmitted signal. This paper presents a novel channel model and related channel simulator conceived for link-level simulations of point-to-point wireless outdoor communication links, wherein both the transmitter and the receiver, possibly in movement, may be equipped with an array of antennas. Physical effects of the propagation channel are taken into account, so as to generate realistic simulations of the fast and possibly frequency selective fading process affecting the transmitted signal. The structure of the channel simulator guarantees an affordable computational burden