Diversity and MIMO performance evaluation of common phase center multi element antenna systems

The diversity and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) performance provided by common phase center multi element antenna (CPCMEA) systems is evaluated using two practical methods which make use of the realized active element antenna patterns. These patterns include both the impact of the mutual coupling and the mismatch power loss at antenna ports. As a case study, two and four printed Inverted F Antenna (IFA) systems are evaluated by means of Effective Diversity Gain (EDG) and Capacity (C). EDG is measured in terms of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) enhancement at a specific outage probability and in terms of the SNR reduction for achieving a desired average bit error rate (BER). The concept of receive antenna selection in MIMO systems is also investigated and the simulation results show a 43% improvement in the 1% outage C of a reconfigurable 2x2 MIMO system over a fixed 2x2 one.