Actual and predicted coverage of multiuser MIMO based fixed wireless access in rural areas

Coverage prediction is an important tool in designing fixed wireless broadband access networks in rural areas. Recently, the use of multiuser multiple-input multiple-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MU-MIMO-OFDM) was proposed to multiply the spectral efficiency of the fixed wireless broadband access in rural areas by the factor corresponding to the number of space division multiple access (SDMA) users. Due to the complex nature of adaptive beam-forming, inherent in the MU-MIMO, coverage prediction of a MU-MIMO system may be difficult. We propose a simple conversion method where a MU-MIMO system is replaced with a single-transmitter-single-receiver system thereby allowing the use of conventional coverage prediction tools, such as Recommendation ITU-R P. 1546 propagation model. Coverage prediction by the proposed method and actual six-user MU-MIMO-OFDM uplink performance, demonstrated in a rural area in Tasmania, Australia, at a UHF band, have been found to correspond to each other well.