Spatial multiplexing over a line-of-sight millimeter-wave MIMO link: A two-channel hardware demonstration at 1.2Gbps over 41m range

This paper presents recent experimental results from a novel hardware prototype of an outdoor millimeter-wave line-of-sight (LOS) MIMO link. The system architecture establishes multiple parallel data channels using antenna element spacing derived from the principles of diffraction-limited optics. A millimeter-wave carrier frequency reduces the antenna array size to reasonably compact dimensions. In principle, this system architecture is scalable to larger one-dimensional and two-dimensional arrays supporting data rates >320 Gbps. A two-channel LOS hardware prototype has been constructed and tested in an outdoor environment. The hardware prototype achieved bit error rates (BER) <2times10^-6 for two channels operating at 600 Mbps each over a link range of 41 m.