On the Spectral Efficiency for Distributed Massive MIMO Systems

Distributed MIMO (D-MIMO) systems are expected to play a key role in deployments for future mobile communications. Together with massive MIMO technology, D-MIMO aims to maximize the spectral efficiency and data rate in mobile networks. This paper proposes a deep study on the spectral efficiency of D-MIMO systems for essential channel parameters, such as the channel power balance or the correlation between propagation channels. For that purpose, several propagation channels were acquired in both anechoic and reverberation chambers and were emulated using channel simulators. In addition, several frequency bands were studied, both the sub–6 GHz band and mmWave band. The results of this study revealed the high influence of channel correlation and power balance on the physical channel performance. Low-correlated and high-power balance propagation channels show better performances than high correlated and power unbalance channels in terms of spectral efficiency. Given these results, it will be fundamental to take into account the spectral efficiency of D-MIMO systems when designing criteria to establish multi-connectivity in future mobile network deployments.