mmWave MIMO Channel Sounding for
5G
— Technical Challenges and Prototype
System
June 4, 2022
Zhu Wen
Hongwei Kong
Keysight Labs
Abstract: mmWave MIMO
Channel Sounding for 5G
– Since 5G expects using mmWave frequency band, the mmWave channel
sounding system, which are used to characterize the various mmWave wireless
channel models, these days, become a very hot topic for 5G.
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– In this presentation, we mainly focus on how to setup mmWave MIMO channel
sounding system with commercial instruments to fulfill the 6 major technical
challenges foresee in 5G as well as focusing on the main channel measurement
requirements:
The use of mmWave frequency band
The use of ultra-broad bandwidth
The use of massive MIMO.
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– Then we provide our considerations on how to best address these technical
challenges based on the last generation of mmWave/microwave instrumentation,
measurement techniques and capabilities.
– At last, we propose a reference prototype system design for 5G mmWave MIMO
channel sounding system, the functionalities and where performance of the
prototype system are discussed.
Channel Sounding: Concept
RF channel the heart of any
wireless system
Channel sounding techniques to understand
the characteristics of RF channel
Tx
RF Channel
ℎ
=ℎ ⊗
= ∗ −
=ℎ − ⊗
≈ ℎ − ⊗ =ℎ
RF: Radio Frequency
Rx
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Channel Sounding for 5G (I)
System
Requirements
5G
Channel
Sounding
mmWave
Frequency
Band
Ultra-broad
Bandwidth
Massive
MIMO
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Channel Sounding for 5G (II)
Technical Challenges
Synchronizat
ion and
Calibration
Channel
Parameter
Estimation
Processing
Sounding
Approach &
Architecture
5G Channel
Sounding
Efficient Data
Storage &
Streaming
mmWave
Frequency
Band
Ultra-broad
Bandwidth
Signal
Generation &
Acquisition
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Consideration on 5G Channel Sounding
(1)
Sounding Approach &
Sounding Technique
Architecture
Sliding Correlator
Keysight preferred sounding architecture
Frequency Swept
Wideband
Wideband
Correlation
Correlation
• Low meas. speed
• Amplitude
information only
• Fast meas. speed
• Amp./phase
information
• Low meas. speed
• Amplitude
information only
Switching @ Tx&Rx
MIMO Sounding Approach
Advantages
• Fast meas speed
Switching @ Tx,
Switching @ Tx,
• MIMO sounding capability
parallel receiving
parallel receiving
• High meas. performance
• Arbitrary sounding waveform support
• Slowest
• No cross-
interference
• Fast
• No cross-
interference
Parallel transmitting
& receiving
• Fastest
• Suffering cross-
interference
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Consideration on 5G Channel Sounding
(2)
broadband
mmWave
Antenna
mmWave & Ultra-
mmWave
Antenna
Channel
mmWave
Signal
mmWave Switch
mmWave VSG2
Wideband I/Q
Signal
Wideband AWG1
mmWave
Sounding
Signal
mmWave Multi-
channel DC3
IF Signal
Wideband Multi-
channel Digitizer
Wideband Signal Generator
Wideband Multi-channel Receiver
1AWG: Arbitrary Waveform Generator
2VSG: Vector Signal Generator
3DC: Down-Converter
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Consideration on 5G Channel Sounding
(3)
Data Streaming &
Storage
Transmitting period
Raw Sounding Data
32GB/s 2
Sounding
signal
Transmitting signal
length
Effective Raw Data
Max. delay
spread
Effective Raw Data
8GB/s 2
CIR1
Effective
CIR Data
1 CIR: Channel Impulse Response
2 1GSa/s sampling rate, =100, =20, =5
1.6GB/s 2
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