Manipulating LOS and NLOS MIMO Propagation Environments Using Passive Repeaters

This paper presents a novel method of multiple input multiple output (MIMO) communication on the basis of a passive repeater that achieves enhanced performance in both line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight environments. The passive repeater is implemented as a back-to-back antenna system. The advantage of the proposed system is an increase in the effective aperture of the base station, which allows to sufficiently extend the communication distance and ensure spatial resolution. The configuration of the passive repeater is simple, based on two connected antennas with parabolic reflectors. This configuration helps to avoid phase controller that allows to spread repeaters in the communication environment. This spreading provides multipath propagation and improves MIMO performance. In this paper, we suggest to implement the proposed passive repeater with optimal placements to create multipath wave propagation and ensure spatial resolution in a line-of-sight environment, and to enhance coverage and access blind spots in a non-line-of-sight environment. The numerical analysis is performed to verify the validity of using the proposed repeater, and it is found that the proposed method helps to ensure features in the propagation environment which leads to enhanced MIMO performance.