MULTI-POLARIZATION DIMENSIONALITY OF MULTI-ANTENNA SYSTEMS

—Based on the deterministic Maxwellian framework, we investigate the ability of each of the dual fields (electric and magnetic) in carrying independent information in a multi-polarization MIMO system. We quantify the performance by using a well-defined power independent dimensionality (PID) metric. We present numerical results for 3 deterministic scenarios: a canonical free-space (near and far field exact solution), a canonical PEC corridor (using rigorous modal analysis) and a lossy-wall corridor (using image ray tracing). The deterministic results show that in a multi-path rich environment, the hexapole system (collocated polarized electric and magnetic point radiators) is almost guaranteed to provide more than 3 DOF. However, in the simulated scenarios, the maximum 6 DOF are never attained due to the inevitable coupling between the electric and magnetic fields. On the other hand, for a tripole system, the upper-limit of 3 DOF is achievable.