Performance and Feasibility Analysis of a Channel Sounding Based Massive MIMO Channel Model

The high millimeter wave frequencies (100 - 300 GHz) have retained their interest in the scientific community for various high data rate applications, such as front- and backhaul networks. The high path losses at these frequencies require utilization of very large antenna gains. Large arrays are a natural way to generate antenna gain and allow degrees of freedom in beamforming at the same time, as well as they allow multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) access methods. This paper analyses a newly developed MIMO channel model for 140 GHz. The results show that as expected based on the literature, the channels are quite sparse. Interestingly, optimal power allocation uses only few of the available degrees of freedom. This is mostly attributed to the high losses in the channel. Still, the channel ranks theoretically allow large numbers parallel channels, albeit using them all would not always be energy optimal.