Spatial channel characteristics in outdoor environments and their impact on BS antenna system performance

This paper present measurement results obtained with a testbed equipped with an array antenna. The investigations focus on the power azimuth spectrum of the channel in urban and rural areas, for various base station antenna heights. The power azimuth spectrum is well modeled with a Laplacian function. The local azimuth spread is found to range from 1° to 25° depending on the environment and antenna height. The azimuth spread significantly increases as the antenna height is reduced. An analytical expression for the spatial correlation function is derived based on the Laplacian model. Finally, the power azimuth spectrums impact on a conventional beamformer ability to suppress interfering users is investigated