Reconfigurable ULAs for Line-of-Sight MIMO Transmission

Abstract: This paper establishes an upper bound on the capacity of line-of-sight multiantenna channels over all possible antenna arrangements and shows that uniform linear arrays (ULAs) with an SNR-dependent rotation of transmitter or receiver can closely approach such capacity---and in fact achieve it at low and high SNR, and asymptotically in the numbers of antennas. Then, as an alternative to mechanically rotating ULAs, we propose to electronically select among multiple ULAs having a radial disposition at either transmitter or receiver, and we bound the shortfall from capacity as a function of the number of such ULAs. With only three ULAs, properly angled, 96% of the capacity can be achieved. Finally, we further introduce reduced-complexity precoders and linear receivers that capitalize on the structure of the channels spawned by these configurable ULA architectures.