Preliminary System-Level Simulation Results for the 3GPP 3D MIMO Channel Model

Recently, the 3GPP RAN WG1 (RAN1) started working on a Study Item that focuses on introducing 3D MIMO Channel Models for system-level performance evaluation of 3D MIMO and Full- Dimension (FD) MIMO features in LTE-A. In this Study Item, simulation scenarios and environments have been defined and agreed upon for the extension of the current 3GPP/ITU Channel Model. In this paper, we present some of the major modifications that have been brought in the 3GPP 3D MIMO Channel and antenna models. We also present the problem of computing the Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) by accounting for the Small Scale Parameters (SSPs), which relates closely to the problem of determining the serving cell. We present two RSRP computation models that account for the effects of SSPs and evaluate their performance through system-level simulations. We observe that the behaviour of the 3D MIMO Channel Model is significantly impacted by how the RSRP is computed. We provide some preliminary results on the 3D MIMO channel and investigate the different parameters impacting the 3D MIMO channel´s behaviour.