Measurement-Based Massive MIMO Channel Characterization and Performance Evaluation at FR3 (8 and 15 GHz) Under Equal Physical Aperture

Abstract: With the push toward 6G commercialization, Frequency Range 3 (FR3) bands, specifically 7.125-8.4 GHz and 14.8-15.3 GHz, have become focal points for achieving wide-area, high-capacity coverage. However, practical deployment is often limited by the physical aperture constraints of base station antennas. This study conducts comprehensive measurements in Urban Macro (UMa) scenarios using a unified dual-band sounding platform to evaluate channel characteristics and system performance under the strict constraint of "equal physical array aperture." The results indicate that higher frequency bands exhibit increased sparsity in both delay and spatial domains. Regarding coverage, while the 15 GHz band can theoretically accommodate four times the number of antenna elements (128 elements) within the same area to compensate for path loss, empirical data reveals a residual coverage deficit of approximately 3.0 dB at cell edges compared to the 8 GHz baseline. In contrast, the 15 GHz band excels in capacity; the increased element count effectively overcomes channel sparsity, resulting in spectral efficiency (SE) that significantly outperforms the 8 GHz band. Furthermore, the research demonstrates that for a fixed number of elements, system performance remains largely insensitive to specific array topologies (e.g., 1x32, 2x16, or 4x8). Ultimately, FR3 system performance is dictated by the trade-off between propagation characteristics and hardware-enabled gain. These findings provide a theoretical foundation for spatial-domain design and help address engineering challenges for 6G base station implementation