Modeling effects of mutual coupling considered at both ends of a MIMO channel using computational electromagnetics

We describe a technique that uses the method of moments (MoM) to consider the effects of mutual coupling, and electromagnetic ray tracing (ERT) to model far-field propagation. Our technique allows for the comparison of the capacity of a communications channel when mutual coupling is and is not considered at one or both ends of the link. We apply this technique to several representative and actual urban environments. We find that pattern diversity, which results from the inclusion of mutual coupling, should be considered in cases when there is large angle spread at the receiver. Further, with this technique, we are able to simulate a vehicular mobile ad-hoc network and compare spatial multiplexing to beamforming capacity.