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Study of MIMO channel capacity for IST METRA
models
Matilde Sánchez Fernández, Ma del Pilar Cantarero Recio and Ana Garc´ıa Armada
Dept. Signal Theory and Communications
University Carlos III of Madrid
{mati,agarcia}@tsc.uc3m.es
Abstract— In this paper MIMO channel capacity is
studied from a simulation point of view. The channel
models used for capacity computation are the proposed
in IST-I-METRA European project.
I. INTRODUCTION
The need for increasing capacity in a mobile
communication systems is a fact due to the user
demands. In particular, the user requirements for high
data rates are focusing the technologies alternatives
towards powerful coding schemes and multiple antenna
systems.
In a conventional SISO (Single Input Single Output)
system the channel capacity is limited by the signal to
noise ratio, however, MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple
Output) systems show promising results in increasing
channel capacity. MIMO systems show a capacity
increase that might depend linearly with the minimum
number of antenna elements in the transmitter or
receiver part, assuming for this assess that the total
transmitter power is independent of the number of
antennas. This capacity increase is given by the
exploitation the multiple elements make of multipath
diversity and spatial diversity.
The paper is organized as follows. First in section
II capacity in a conventional SISO systems will be
presented together with a MIMO channel capacity. In
section III MIMO channel models used for calculations
will be presented. Then in section IV the performance
obtained will be discussed and finally some conclusions
will be drawn.
This work has been partially funded by Spanish Government with
project TIC2002-03498.
II. SISO VS MIMO CAPACITY
The channel capacity for a conventional SISO system
is limited by Shannon’s formula [1]:
C = log2(1+SNR) (1)
Thus the capacity in bit/symbol depends exclusively
on the signal to noise ratio at the receiver. At this point,
for a constant noise power, increasing the capacity of
the channel in 1 bit/symbol implies that the signal power
should be doubled.
An alternative for increasing channel capacity without
additional power consumption are MIMO systems. Here
the use of multiple elements both in transmission and
reception exploits channel dispersion and increases the
channel capacity according to the following formula [2]:
C = log2 det InR
+
ρ
nT
HH
H (2)
where nR and nT are respectively the number of receivers
and transmitters at each end. ρ is the total signal to noise
ratio and H is the channel matrix. The channel matrix
represents the attenuation coefficients of a flat fading
channel between antenna elements. Thus the matrix
dimensions are nT nR.
III. MIMO CHANNEL MODELS
Several channel models are being proposed for
MIMO systems [3]. There is a first group based on
a detailed description of the propagation environment,
called deterministic models. Within this group two
distinctions are made: the reproduction of recorded
impulse responses based on extensive measurements
campaigns and the ray-tracing techniques, based on
geometric optics that allow predicting the multipath

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propagation in a given environment from its geometrical
description.
The second group is classified as stochastic
models and they do not rely on a specific site
description but on reproducing observed phenomena
by means of stochastic processes. This group is also
subdivided into: geometrically-based stochastic models
(GBSM), parametric stochastic models (PSM) and
correlation-based stochastic models. Correlation-based
stochastic models rely on the second order statistics of
the channel coefficients to fully characterize the MIMO
channel. To this last category belongs the channel
models developed by IST project IST-1999-11729
METRA [4].
IST METRA model is based on a tapped delayed line
where the complex gaussian coefficients are defined by
means of their second order statistics. These characterize
the spatial correlation at both the transmitter and receiver
side together with the temporal correlation:
H(τ) =
L
∑
l=1
Alδ(τ−τl) (3)
The generation of each of the matrices Al follow the
next procedure:
RNodoB
RMIMO
Cholesky
factorization
RUE
Kronecker
product C
a
A
H
Matrix
product
Fig. 1. Tap matrix generation.
where RNodoB and RUE are the spatial correlation
coefficient at both sides and a are nRnT complex
gaussian independent coefficients that in the subsequent
temporal dimension models the fading with the
corresponding Doppler spectra.
IST METRA has defined four channel models
following the previous approach. Temporal correlation
is present in the four models by means of Doppler
spectrum. The first model is a flat fading model with
no spatial correlation that will be used in our study
as an upper bound for the maximum channel capacity
achieved. The spatial correlation present in the rest of
the models is described by means of parameters such as
PAS (Power Azimut Spectrum), AS (Azimut Spread),
AoA (Angle of Arrival) and spacing among antennas.
The three models with spatial correlation also include
multipath propagation up to 6 paths.
2,-20,10,-8,-33,3120º,520º,5-Node B AoA
Laplacian AS=15Laplacian AS=10Laplacian AS=5-Node B PAS
Uniform Linear Array: 0.5 l or 4 l-Node B Topology
-67.5 for odd paths
22.5 for even paths
67.522.5-AoA
-22.522.50-UE Movement
Direction
Laplacian AS=35
Uniform 360º
Laplacian AS=35
Uniform 360º
Rice Component:
K=6dB
Uniform 360º
-UE PAS
0.5 l0.5 l0.5 l-UE Topology
3-40-120 Km/h-Speed
LaplaceLaplaceClassicalClassicalDoppler Spectra
6641Number of Paths
ITU Pedestrian BITU Vehicular AITU Pedestrian A-PDP
Case 4 (pedestrian B)
Correlated
Case 3 (vehicular A)
Correlated
Case 2 (pedestrian A)
Rice
Correlated
Case 1
Rayleigh
Uncorrelated
2,-20,10,-8,-33,3120º,520º,5-Node B AoA
Laplacian AS=15Laplacian AS=10Laplacian AS=5-Node B PAS
Uniform Linear Array: 0.5 l or 4 l-Node B Topology
-67.5 for odd paths
22.5 for even paths
67.522.5-AoA
-22.522.50-UE Movement
Direction
Laplacian AS=35
Uniform 360º
Laplacian AS=35
Uniform 360º
Rice Component:
K=6dB
Uniform 360º
-UE PAS
0.5 l0.5 l0.5 l-UE Topology
3-40-120 Km/h-Speed
LaplaceLaplaceClassicalClassicalDoppler Spectra
6641Number of Paths
ITU Pedestrian BITU Vehicular AITU Pedestrian A-PDP
Case 4 (pedestrian B)
Correlated
Case 3 (vehicular A)
Correlated
Case 2 (pedestrian A)
Rice
Correlated
Case 1
Rayleigh
Uncorrelated
Fig. 2. IST METRA channel models.
For our channel capacity studies, several
simplifications will be made. As it was previously
said the uncorrelated channel model will be used
as a reference for capacity achievement. The rest of
the models will be considered to show the capacity
degradation due to spatial correlation, for that reason
just one of the paths will be studied at each time.
IV. CAPACITY STUDIES
The uncorrelated environment will be a reference for
our capacity study. The capacity gains depending on
the number of antennas and the signal to noise ratio
will be shown by means of the capacity cumulative
density function (CDF) and its mean. The correlated
environments will be studied under the same conditions
and a final comparison will be made to provide a
reference for the capacity loss due to correlation.
For both studies, channel independent time samples
will be taken to evaluate the cumulative density function
according to equation 2.
A. Uncorrelated environment
The empirical CDF for a signal to noise ratio is shown
next for different number of transmitter and receiver
antennas.
The channel gains depending on the number of
antennas are better shown keeping constant either the

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number of transmitters or receivers and showing the
mean capacity.
Fig. 3. Uncorrelated channel, signal to noise ratio 20 dB.
From figures IV-A and IV-A several affirmations can
be made. The first one is that the capacity curves keeping
constant the number of transmitters show higher slope
when increasing the number of receivers that when
keeping constant the number of receivers and increasing
the number of transmitters, thus, the asymptotic value
is reached before when keeping constant the number of
receivers.
Two explanations might be issued for this behavior.
The channel capacity gain is less when varying the
number of transmitters and keeping constant the number
of receivers since the power transmitted by each antenna
decreases when increasing its number. The second
explanation related to the asymptotic behavior is given
by the fact that the limiting parameter for channel
capacity is given by the minimum number of elements
either in transmission or in reception. Consequently
when one of the values is greater than the other the
limiting parameter is the smaller.
Another analysis can be made regarding the signal to
noise ratio in the system. In a SISO system, increasing
the channel capacity in 1 bit/symbol implies a signal to
noise ratio increase of 3 dB. In a MIMO system with
spatial uncorrelation, the channel gain achieved for each
3 dB of signal to noise ratio increase is the number of
elements that are being used in the system. This is shown
in figure IV-A.
Fig. 6. Uncorrelated channel, signal to noise ratio variation with 4
transmitting and receiving antennas.

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B. Spatially correlated environments
The two levels of correlation are shown in the
following figures, where like in the previous section the
channel capacity increase is shown for different number
of transmitting and receiving elements.
Fig. 7. Case 2 channel, signal to noise ratio 0 dB.
Fig. 8. Case 3 channel, signal to noise ratio 0 dB.
It can be observed that the capacity growth is
bigger in Case 2 channel than in Case 3. The same
way in both cases it is pretty clear that the capacity
reaches a saturation level when increasing the number
of transmitters, the reason for that is that in this situation
the number of elements in the system is not governing
any more the capacity growth, being the correlation level
the leading parameter.
Similarly, the behavior related to the dependence with
the signal to noise ratio shows channel capacity loss due
to correlation. It should be noted that in the uncorrelated
environment for each 3 dB increase in the signal to
noise ratio, the increase in bit/symbol is as much as the
minimum number of elements. In the correlated case
it can be observed in the following figures that this
increase in bit/symbol is less than the minimum number
of antennas.
Fig. 9. Case 2 correlated channel. 4 transmitting and receiving
antennas.
antennas.
The results show that for 4 transmitting and receiving
elements the channel capacity increase for every 3 dB in
the signal to noise ratio is bellow 4 bit/symbol, and goes
for 3 bit/symbol for Case 2 to 2 bit/symbol for Case 3.
Finally we will show a comparative graph to clearly
illustrate what was previously stated.
The channel capacity loss can be observed in figure
IV-B where the CDF degradation is evident.

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antennas.
V. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper several channel environments have
been analyzed in order to study the channel capacity
behavior under different parameters, such as number of
transmitters, receivers, the signal to noise ratio and the
spatial correlation. It is shown that spatial correlation is
a key issue that limits the channel capacity gain. The
same way the convenience of using receiver diversity
instead of transmitter is shown by means of the capacity
gain when increasing the number of transmitters and
receivers.
REFERENCES
[1] C.E. Shannon, “Communication in the presence of noise”,
Proceedings of the IRE and waves and electrons, 1948.
[2] G.J. Foschini and M.J. Gans, “On limits of wireless
communication in a fading environment when using multiple
antennas”, in Wireless Personal Communications, vol. 6, Marzo
1998.
[3] L. Schumacher, L. Torsten Berger and J. Ramiro-Moreno
“Recent advances in propagation characterization and multiple
antenna processing in the 3GPP framework”, in Proceedings of
XXVIIth URSI General Assembly, Maastricht, The Netherlands
Agosto 2002.
[4] L. Schumacher, J.P. Kermoal, F. Frederiksen, K.I. Pedersen, A.
Algans and P.E. Mogensen, “MIMO Channel characterization”,
IST-1999-11729 METRA Deliverable 2, February 2001.

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