Ray tracing simulation and experimental validation for millimeter-wave massive MIMO systems

Accurate channel characterization is extremely helpful in channel estimation, channel coding, and many other parts of communication system design and can effectively reduce overhead. Ray tracing (RT) shows accurate channel reconstruction for specific maps, but the multipath propagation in indoor scenes is far more complex than in outdoor scenes leading to a challenge for RT. This work presents and validates an RT tool for a massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system in the millimeter-wave frequency bands with the associated channel beamforming algorithm and provides ideas for channel estimation algorithm in subsequent MIMO systems. The impact of the order of interactions, e.g. reflections and diffractions on the channel impulse response reconstruction are analyzed in the RT simulation. The comparison between RT simulated and measured results shows a reasonable level of agreement. The presented RT tool that can provide complete and accurate channel information is of high value for the design of reliable communication systems.