UCLA

In order to introduce the benefits of Multiple-Input/Multiple-Output (MIMO) wireless solutions into the airborne environment for maximal effect, the airborne channel must be fully understood. While there have been theoretical models proposed for the airborne channel, there has been very little work toward providing a practical channel model which has been validated by actual an airborne platform. This work presents a characterization of practical performance gains of a MIMO system over a conventional SISO, in a mobile air-to-ground environment. Field measurements were collected with an airborne 4x4 MIMO-OFDM channel-sounding platform at altitudes, speeds and flight patterns approximating medium-endurance vehicles flying over various terrain. Ground stations placed in multiple locations (different scattering scenarios) measured channel responses in addition to actual throughput statistics. Our studies indicate that significant throughput and range gains are achievable with MIMO. We also show that depending on application requirements, these MIMO-enabled gains can be converted into considerable power savings. We also present a study of the effects of introducing MIMO-enabled signaling techniques (such as eigen beamforming and spatial multiplexing) on the total link-capacity of a system of uncoordinated, air-to-ground link-pairs deployed to a single area of operations. Captured channel measurements from the earlier real-world airborne study were inserted into our multi-link simulation environment. Trials were run under several representative aerial-deployment scenarios, revealing significant gains in link capacity. Finally, we consider the potential throughput enhancement delivered by full-duplex signaling and its limitations due to desensitization of receiver hardware by self-generated interference (SI). Existing SI cancellation solutions are prohibitive for long-range/airborne applications due to power handling limitations. They are also not easily scalable for an arbitrary number of MIMO antennas in arbitrary positions. A host-agnostic, high-power, adaptive SI canceler design is proposed and a hardware prototype is presented. Performance enhancement with an off-the-shelf host radio was demonstrated in the presence of varying SI signal profiles.