DefenseElectronics
MIMO: The next revolution in wireless
data communications
While providing a technical overview of MIMO and its different variants, and quantifying
some of its benefits in relevant scenarios in military tactical communications, the article also
identifies key capabilities that efficient MIMO development/evaluation platforms must offer.
By Babak Daneshrad
M ulti-antenna based multi-input multi-
output (MIMO) communications first
burst onto the scene in the mid 1990s when
researchers at Bell Labs and Stanford were
looking for ways to increase system through-
put without increasing bandwidth. In the de-
cade since, thousands of research papers have
been written on the topic dealing with both
physical layer (PHY) and network layer rami-
fications of the technology. MIMO has gone
through the adoption curve for commercial
wireless systems to the point that today, all
high throughput commercial standards (i.e.,
WiMax, Wi-Fi, cellular, etc.) have adopted
MIMO as part of the optional, if not manda-
tory, portions of their standards. The adoption
of MIMO into military wireless communica-
tions systems has to some extent lagged its
adoption in the commercial arena. To date,
the largest DoD-funded effort with a uniquely
MIMO-centric focus is the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Mobile
Networked MIMO (MNM) program. This
program is a multiyear, multimillion-dollar
effort that looks to exploit MIMO techniques
to (a) provide reliable communications in
urban canyons; (b) significantly extend the
reach of conventional single-antenna wireless
systems; (c) improve reliability of individual
links: and (d) enhance mobile ad-hoc network
(MANET) throughput rate by 10x or more
compared to current SISO-based radios.
Lucent Technologies was the performer on
x(n) Modulator
x(t)
y(n)
Modulator
y(t)
z(n) Modulator
z(t)
Figure 1. MIMO transmission and reception in a dispersive environment. In a MIMO system, different information
is transmitted simultaneously on each transmit antenna.
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the first phase of the program, whereas Silvus
Technologies was chosen as the performer on
the second and third phases of the program.
This article will provide a technical over-
view of MIMO and its different variants, as
well as quantify some of its benefits in relevant
scenarios in military tactical communications.
Finally we will identify key capabilities that
efficient MIMO development/evaluation plat-
forms must offer to the marketplace.
Introduction to MIMO
The pioneering work by Telatar, Foschini
and Gans at Bell Labs demonstrated that
MIMO in a wireless communication system
can greatly improve performance, as much
as one order of magnitude or more, without
requiring any additional bandwidth.
A MIMO wireless system consists of N
transmit antennas and M receive antennas.
However, unlike phased array systems where
a single information stream, say x(t), is trans- or receiver increases. The impact of this is
mitted on all transmitters and then received at
the receiver antennas, MIMO systems trans-
mit different information streams, say x(t),
y(t), z(t), on each transmit antenna. These are
independent information streams being sent
simultaneously and in the same frequency
band. At first glance, one might say that the
transmitted signals interfere with one another.
In reality, however, the signal arriving at each in the number of parallel channels translates
receiver antenna will be a linear combination
of the N transmitted signals.
r1(t) = a11x(t) + a12y(t) + a13z(t)
MIMO
receiver
r3(t) = a31x(t) + a32y(t) + a33z(t)
F2-Figure 1
Figure 1 shows a MIMO system with three
transmit and three receive antennas. The re-
ceived signals r1(t), r2(t), r3(t) at each of the
three received antennas are a linear combina-
tion of x(t), y(t), z(t). The coefficients {aij}
represent the channel weights correspond-
ing to the attenuation seen between each
transmit-receive antenna pair. The affect is
that we have a system of three equations and
three unknowns as shown below.
 x
r = A  y
 
 z 
In general, the matrix, A, of channel coef-
ficients {aij} must be invertible for MIMO
systems to live up to their promise. It has been
proven that the likelihood for A to be invert-
ible increases as the number of multipaths and
reflections in the vicinity of the transmitter
that in a Rayleigh fading environment with
spatial independence, there are essentially
NM levels of diversity available and there are
min(N,M) independent parallel channels that
can be established. Increases in the diversity
order results in significant reductions in the
total transmit power for the same level of
performance. On the other hand, an increase
into an increase in the achievable data rate
within the same bandwidth.
Let us now quantify the
benefits of MIMO-based sys-
tems operating in a typical
Rayliegh fading wireless
channel. Figure 2 compares
the achievable 95-percentile
x(n) capacity (minimum capacity
achieved over 95 percent of
y(n) wireless channels encoun-
z(n) tered, or in other words, given
a channel, there is a 95 percent
chance that the capacity of
that channel is higher than the
capacity shown in the plot)
for single antenna systems
(yellow dot), for a phased
array multi-antenna system
3/20/2008 12:11:11 PM
 95% outage capacity
(blue curve), and for MIMO 50 antenna systems that can adap-
systems (red curve). As shown, MIMO system tively beamform or beam-null in
45 Number of Tx antenna =
the capacity of the phased array Number of Rx antenna
a particular direction.
system grows logarithmically 40
with increasing antenna array Leveraging MIMO for
35
size, whereas the capacity of the Traditional 1x1 the military

Capacity (bps/Hz)
MIMO system grows linearly. 30 SISO system does not The true benefit of MIMO is
With four antennas, the phase improve with not simply its ability to increase
array system provides a capacity 25 more antennas throughput or reliability, rather,
Smart antenna array
of 8 bps/Hz, whereas the MIMO 20 number of transmit when properly married with
system provides a capacity of 19 antenna fixed at 1 the other elements of the radio,
bps/Hz. It is also worth noting that 15 MIMO enables a truly mode-rich
in a phased array system, the array radio--one that is ideal for opera-
coefficients must be calculated to 10 tion in non-line-of-sight (NLOS)
point the beam in the “best direc- 5 environments found in urban can-
tion.” This is quite difficult to do yons and forested regions. This
when the transmitter is inside 0 allows a MIMO-enabled radio
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
the hull of an aircraft where the Number of receive antennas to exhibit elasticity beyond that
signal undergoes many reflections of conventional single-antenna
before it emerges from the aircraft Figure 2. MIMO capacity increases with array size, whereas phased ar- radios, and to better adapt to the
and lands at the receiver. MIMO ray smart antenna systems only improve logarithmically. needs of the war fighter and the
systems do not suffer from this operational environment.
problem as the geometry of the environment bandwidth. The downside to SM is the Examples of use in military-grade com-
and position of the reflectors are automati- need for highly F2-Figure
complex matrix
2
inversion munications are:
cally taken into account during the decoding operations in the receiver, and the added • For communication centers (i.e., ground-
of the MIMO signal. sensitivity to impairments when the system based command posts, ship-to-shore or
The benefits of MIMO will now be is driven into “full-multiplexing” (number ship-to-ship communication), a high
considered in a different light. Assume that of spatial streams is equal to the number of throughput mode can be used to transfer
there is a fixed capacity that is desired, say transmit antennas which in turn is equal to data at speeds greater than 100 Mbps.
1 bps/Hz, and ask the question, “How much the number of receive antennas) mode of • In a NLOS environment, the radio can use
total transmit power is needed to achieve a operation. a physical mode, which lowers the data
95-percentile capacity of 1 bps/Hz?” The • Space-time coding (STC-MIMO). Space- rate to 10 Mbps in exchange for higher
results are summarized in Table 1. As is seen time coding systems look to provide quality of service (QoS). A platoon of
from the table, as the number of antennas coding gain by introducing redundancy tanks proceeding down separate streets in
increase in a MIMO system, less and less along the three signaling axes defined as an urban environment can continue cross-
receive power is needed to achieve the same time, frequency and space. They can also communications.
data throughput rate. This is an important be used to provide transmit diversity gain. • In an environment where jammers are used
finding as it is the key property that is relied Compared to spatial multiplexing systems, in an attempt to disrupt communication, a
upon to combat the attenuation associated STC-MIMO systems provide robustness of mode sending redundant packets across
with getting the signal out of the aircraft hull. communications without providing signifi- multiple paths can be used to ensure that
So if a conventional single antenna system cant throughput gains. Moreover, they are uncorrupted data reaches the receiver.
required 1 Watt of transmit power to achieve well suited to asymmetric situations where Integrity and consistency saves lives and
a certain throughput, then an 8 x 8 MIMO the transmitter may have more antennas at contributes to Mission Success.
system would require only 6 mW of power its disposal than the receiver. • In a mobile environment (i.e., tanks or Hum-
to achieve the same performance. • Diversity systems (DIV-MIMO). Diversity vees advancing across open terrain, surveil-
is a traditional form of multi-antenna pro- lance UAVs scouring an area of interest), yet
A multiplicity of MIMO modes cessing that looks to counteract fast fading another mode can be used to enable high data
The appeal of spatial multiplexing effects by creating independent channels rates between fast-moving vehicles.
MIMO systems has captured many people’s between the TX and RX, transmitting the • For covert applications, some solutions
attention. This has been taken to the ex- same signal on all independent channels can exploit MIMO modes to transmit at
treme whereby spatial multiplexing MIMO and optimally combining the received a reduced rate while using an ultra low
schemes have been suggested to solve any signals. transmit power mode to conceal its elec-
and all wireless communication issues. In • Smart antenna (SA-MIMO) systems are tronic signature.
fact, there are four unique multi-antenna best described as adaptive phased array • For real-time video surveillance applica-
MIMO techniques available to the system tions (i.e., border or perimeter monitoring,
designer as follows: Antenna Configuration MIMO real-time battlefield monitoring), a high
• Spatial multiplexing (SM-MIMO). Mul- SISO (1x1) 12.8 dB throughput, high QoS mode can be used.
tiple antennas are used to create spatially • For mesh networks, some solutions take
2x2 1.2 dB
independent links along the eigen-modes advantage of all of the reflections (i.e.,
of the wireless channel. In SM systems, 4x4 –4.9 dB signals bouncing off hundreds of armored
throughput is increased by sending differ- 8x8 –9.3 dB vehicles) to improve performance, as op-
ent data on the different transmit antennas. posed to current single antenna systems,
As such SM-MIMO can result in much Table 1. Receive SNR required to achieve a which cannot function in high-demand,
improved throughput without increasing 95-percentile capacity of 1bps/Hz. high-interference environments.

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 Validating MIMO in MAC
the field
Today, suppliers must be API
A
able to provide complete
radio modules comprised of
CNTL to RF for AGC,
an antenna, RF transceiver, calibrate, RF carrier Complete PHY CNTL
a complete packet-based via API
baseband processing engine, RF CNTL Digital
and a robust and intuitive API
(Figure 3). Such solutions,
like the SC2000 from Silvus A/D
A/D FEC
Technologies, are ideal for encode
networking applications, as
A
A/DD/A MIMO User
the radio unit can be com- A/DD/AA Encode/
A
D/A Single channel decode FEC
manded by any medium ac- D/A Mod/Demod decode
cess control (MAC) protocol.
The user (or user program) Any RF Silvus PHY
can dictate radio parameters Fully configurable universal 4 x 4 MIMO OFDM PHY
on a per-packet basis. With
300+ operating modes to
choose from, such platforms
put per packet reconfigurabil-
ity in the hands of the user. Figure 3. Manufacturers today need to offer complete radio modules and include every functional block inside the
This richness of modes dotted boundary. The user can substitute a customized RF front end.
can be realized through the
manipulation of 10 individual parameters, time by 1, quickly validating concepts and 2, wanting to identify the most optimum mode
each of which can take on a range of values. integrating a MIMO-based PHY/MAC onto of transmission within a given environment.
Table 2 summarizes the 10 parameters and users’ application-specific physical realiza- The evaluation board would allow the user
their range of values. tion of MIMO IP. complete configurability and would allow
The platform approach has two FPGAs The baseline design delivered onto him or her to easily cycle through hundreds
(one for the MAC and another for the PHY) the tool is that of an 802.11nF2-Figure 3
compliant of parameter configurations in order to iden-
along with a PowerPC processor. Devel- PHY+MAC, however, this baseline design tify the most optimum set of link parameters
opers can interface through a USB 2.0 or can be augmented to include interference for the situation at hand.
Ethernet interface. The platform comes mitigation protocols, and variable bandwidth The evaluation platform could be used
with a 4 x 4 PHY embedded in one of the capability. Additionally, FPGA-based video to validate the IP and to interface it to other
FPGAs and can be populated with up to codecs could also be implemented on the elements within the customer’s SoC. When
four radio boards. These solutions provide platform to enable wireless video distribu- put into the hands of researchers, the plat-
increased performance, cost effectiveness tion applications. The tool can also be used form is an ideal tool to enable validation and
and overall efficiency in the development of during design to configure the end system, experimentation with advanced MAC and
MIMO-based systems. A complete FPGA as the evaluation board could be used in networking protocols that look to leverage
rapid-prototyping system supports hardware- an experimental framework to identify the OFDM and/or MIMO based communica-
in-the-loop co-simulation and real-time optimum mode to use in a given environ- tions. Within the military sector, the platform
processing. In addition, it cuts development ment. As an example, let us consider a user could be used to validate and quantify the
benefits of MIMO based communications
Parameter Range as a function of mission requirements and
Bandwidth 5, 10, 20 MHz environmental conditions.
Number of antennas 1x1, 1x2, … 2x4, …4x4
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Type of antenna processing Spatial multiplexing,
Space-time coding diversity
Babak Daneshrad is president and CEO
Hybrid Tx diversity and spatial-multiplexing
Rx diversity
of Silvus Technologies. He has been
Eigen beamforming & beamnulling at Rx a professor with the UCLA Electrical
Smart antenna Engineering Department since 1996. He
is well published in the area of wireless
Modulation OFDM (64 point FFT)
communications, with an emphasis on
Constellation size 2-, 4-, 16-, 64-QAM experimental multi-antenna systems. In
Coding rate 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 5/6 2001, he co-founded Innovics Wireless
Spatial multiplexing decoder Modified MMSE
where he served as the CEO, chairman,
and later CTO. Innovics, a specialized fab-
Number of spatial streams 1,2,4 less semiconductor company, raised $14
Transmit power 0 dBm to 36 dBm million in venture capital and developed
Packet size 2 bytes to 64 kbytes
the first multi-antenna, diversity-enabled
WCDMA-3G mobile terminal ASIC.
Table 2. List of example PHY parameters under direct user control.

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