A Millimeter Wave MIMO Testbed for 5G Communications

TL;DR

This paper introduces a 2x2 mm-wave MIMO testbed operating at 30 GHz, demonstrating its potential for 5G signal testing, algorithm development, and measurement validation.

Contribution

It presents a reconfigurable, FPGA-based SDR testbed for 5G mm-wave MIMO systems, enabling system-level performance validation at 30 GHz.

Findings

Successful link assessment at 26.25 GHz

Constellation diagrams for QPSK modulation acquired

Testbed suitable for 5G signal testing and development

Abstract

This paper presents a 2 x 2 millimeter wave (mm-wave) multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) testbed that operates at around 30 GHz. The link assessment of the system operating at 26.25 GHz was carried out on a test bench, with a short communication distance between the transmitting and receiving antennas. A user-programmable, reconfigurable and real-time signal processing field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs)-based software defined radio (SDR) system was employed as part of the testbed to validate the system-level performance for a downlink time division long-term evolution (TD-LTE) duplex scheme. Constellation diagram for quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) digital modulation were acquired while the testbed was operating at 30 GHz. The testbed could be employed for the development of signal test, communication algorithm and measurement metrology for 5G communications.