Impact of Multi-Probe Beamwidth on Spatial Correlation Simulation in a Large-Sized Test Zone of MIMO OTA Setup

With the continuous development of new wireless communication technologies, the demand for wireless communication performance testing of large-volume devices is increasing. To address the performance testing issues for large-sized wireless communication devices, this paper presents a feasible Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) Over-The-Air (OTA) performance testing system design and focuses on analyzing the impact of the anechoic chamber's multi-probe antenna beamwidth on the spatial correlation error within the large test zone. The closed-form expression of spatial correlation has been reformulated with the multi-probe Anechoic Chamber (MPAC) method by taking into account the radiation pattern of the probes. Based on the above expression, this paper proposes a spatial correlation simulation scheme for multi-probe antenna beamwidth parameter selection in typical frequency bands for 4G and 5G. Through extensive simulations, the requirements for the beamwidth of probe antenna across various frequencies have been ultimately determined with a test zone diameter from 0.2 to 4m.