Department of Electrical Engineering
EE 46300: Wireless Communications
MIMO
Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO) technology is a wireless technology that uses multiple transmitters and receivers to transfer more data at the same time. MIMO technology takes advantage of a radio-wave phenomenon called multipath where transmitted information bounces off walls, ceilings, and other objects, reaching the receiving antenna multiple times via different angles and at slightly different times.
In radio, multiple-input and multiple-output, or MIMO (commonly pronounced my-moh or me-moh), is the use of multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver to improve communication performance. It is one of several forms of smart antenna technology. Note that the terms input and output refer to the radio channel carrying the signal, not to the devices having antennas.
MIMO technology has attracted attention in wireless communications, because it offers significant increases in data throughput and link range without additional bandwidth or transmit power. It achieves this by higher spectral efficiency (more bits per second per hertz of bandwidth) and link reliability or diversity (reduced fading). Because of these properties, MIMO is an important part of modern wireless communication standards such as IEEE 802.11n (Wifi), 4G, 3GPP Long Term Evolution, WiMAX and HSPA+.
MIMO technology leverages multipath behavior by using multiple, “smart” transmitters and receivers with an added “spatial” dimension to dramatically increase performance and range. MIMO allows multiple antennas to send and receive multiple spatial streams at the same time. This allows antennas to transmit and receive simultaneously.
MIMO makes antennas work smarter by enabling them to combine data streams arriving from different paths and at different times to effectively increase receiver signal-capturing power. Smart antennas use spatial diversity technology,