Novel spatial fading simulator using cavity-excited circular array (CECA) [mobile communication applications]

In this paper, we propose a novel spatial fading simulator to evaluate the performance of an array antenna and show its spatial stochastic characteristics by computer simulation, based on parameters verified by experimental data. We introduce a cavity-excited circular array (CECA) as a fading simulator that can simulate realistic mobile communication environments. To evaluate an antenna array, two spatial stochastic characteristics are necessary. The first one is the fading phenomenon and the second is the angular spread (AS) of the incident wave. The computer simulation results on the two aspects, fading and AS, show that CECA works well as a spatial fading simulator for performance evaluation of antenna arrays. We first present the basic structure, features and design methodology of CECA, and then show computer simulation results on spatial stochastic characteristics, based on experimental parameters. The results confirm that CECA is a useful tool to evaluate the performance of antenna arrays.