Through its interactions with the Telecom Infrastructure Project (TIP), the SWiFT Lab is equipped with two proprietary massive MIMO radio units for channel sounding and characterization. As mmWave frequencies and massive MIMO are important features for 5G wireless networks and beyond, these modems are considered 5G+.
Their key technical features are listed below:
• No. of Tx antennas: 288
• No. of Rx antennas: 288
• Modulation Coding Schemes: 1-12 802.11ad
• RF channels: 1-3 802.11ad 58.32/60.48/62.64 GHz
• Scanning range: -45° to 45° Azimuth or Elevation (depending on orientation)
• Minimum attainable beamwidth: 2.8°
Here is a typical measurement configuration & GUI snapshot of the system:
TIP measurement setup and GUI snapshot
These 802.11ad Terragraph sounder nodes were provided for the purposes of mmWave channel characterization under TIP by Facebook. They were used to measure and characterize propagation, including the angular domain, for different outdoor and indoor (urban, suburban, rural) scenarios. Depending on the activated elements, the beams produced can have a beam width of 2.8° up to 102°. The GUI software analyzes the results of the measurements to provide values for each beam combination, such as: Path Loss, Received Power, Input and Output SNR and Delay Spread values.