Aperiodic Array Synthesis for Multi-User MIMO Applications

This paper demonstrates the advantages of aperiodic arrays in multi-user multiple-input multiple-output systems for future mobile communication applications. We propose a novel aperiodic array synthesis method which account for the statistics of the propagation channel and the adaptive beamforming algorithm. Clear performance gains in line-of-sight dominated propagation environments are achieved in terms of the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio, the sum rate capacity, as well as the spread of the amplifier output power as compared to their regular counterparts. We also show that the performance is not sacrificed in rich scattering environments. Hence, aperiodic array layouts can provide performance gains in millimeter-wave applications with a dominating line-of-sight component.