Multi-User Frequency-Selective Hybrid MIMO Demonstrated Using 60 GHz RF Modules

Abstract: Given the high throughput requirement for 5G, merging millimeter wave technologies and multi-user MIMO seems a very promising strategy. As hardware limitations impede to realize a full digital architecture, hybrid MIMO architectures, using digital precoding and phased antenna arrays, are considered a feasible solution to implement multi-user MIMO at millimeter wave. However, real channel propagation and hardware non-idealities can significantly degrade the performance of such systems. Experimenting the new architecture is thus crucial to confirm and to support system design. Nevertheless, hybrid MIMO systems are not yet understood as the effects of the wide channel bandwidths at millimeter wave, the non-ideal RF front end as well as the imperfections of the analog beamforming are often neglected. In this paper, we present a 60 GHz MU-MIMO testbed using phased antenna arrays at both transmitter and receiver. The base station equipped with a 32 phased antenna array allocates simultaneously two users. We show that frequency selective hybrid precoding can efficiently suppress inter-user interference enabling spatial multiplexing in interference limited scenario doubling the throughput compared to a SISO scenario and compensating the frequency fluctuation of the channel. In addition, we report an EVM constellation improvement of 6 dB when comparing the hybrid MIMO architecture with a fully analog architecture.