06-08-2016, 02:38 PM
In radio, multiple-input and multiple-output, or MIMO (pronounced /ˈmaɪmoʊ/ or /ˈmiːmoʊ/), is a method for multiplying the capacity of a radio page link using multiple transmit and receive antennas to exploit multipath propagation.[1] MIMO has become an essential element of wireless communication standards including IEEE 802.11n (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.11ac (Wi-Fi), HSPA+ (3G), WiMAX (4G), and Long Term Evolution (4G). More recently, MIMO has been applied to power-line communication for 3-wire installations as part of ITU G.hn standard and HomePlug AV2 specification.
At one time, in wireless the term "MIMO" referred to the use of multiple antennas at the transmitter and the receiver. In modern usage, "MIMO" specifically refers to a practical technique for sending and receiving more than one data signal simultaneously over the same radio channel by exploiting multipath propagation. MIMO is fundamentally different from smart antenna techniques developed to enhance the performance of a single data signal, such as beamforming and diversity.
Multiple-input multiple-output, or MIMO, is a radio communications technology or RF technology that is being mentioned and used in many new technologies these days.
Wi-Fi, LTE; Long Term Evolution, and many other radio, wireless and RF technologies are using the new MIMO wireless technology to provide increased page link capacity and spectral efficiency combined with improved page link reliability using what were previously seen as interference paths.
Even now many there are many MIMO wireless routers on the market, and as this RF technology is becoming more widespread, more MIMO routers and other items of wireless MIMO equipment will be seen.
As the technology is complex many engineers are asking what is MIMO and how does it work.
MIMO development and history
MIMO technology has been developed over many years. Not only did the basic MIMO concepts need to be formulated, but in addition to this, new technologies needed to be developed to enable MIMO to be fully implemented. New levels of processing were needed to allow some of the features of spatial multiplexing as well as to utilise some of the gains of spatial diversity.
Up until the 1990s, spatial diversity was often limited to systems that switched between two antennas or combined the signals to provide the best signal. Also various forms of beam switching were implemented, but in view of the levels of processing involved and the degrees of processing available, the systems were generally relatively limited.
However with the additional levels of processing power that started to become available, it was possible to utilise both spatial diversity and full spatial multiplexing.
The initial work on MIMO systems focussed on basic spatial diversity - here the MIMO system was used to limit the degradation caused by multipath propagation. However this was only the first step as system then started to utilise the multipath propagation to advantage, turning the additional signal paths into what might effectively be considered as additional channels to carry additional data.
Two researchers: Arogyaswami Paulraj and Thomas Kailath were first to propose the use of spatial multiplexing using MIMO in 1993 and in the following year their US patent was granted.
However it fell to Bell Labs to be the first to demonstrate a laboratory prototype of spatial multiplexing in 1998.