Promoted Tech Details

Multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) communication techniques are widely deployed in ground or near-ground wireless cellular and local area networks such as 4G LTE and Wi-fi networks. They provide substantial capacity increases compared to conventional single-input-single-output (SISO) systems. In cellular or Wi-fi environments, wireless channels between transmit antennas and receive antennas exhibit random fading due to rich scattering, which is often characterized as Rayleigh fading. It has been shown that the capacity of MIMO systems subject to Rayleigh fading increases linearly with the number of transmit antennas, provided that the number of receive antennas is not less than that of transmit antennas. The feasibility of applying the MIMO concept to airborne ad-hoc networks has been studied where aircraft or unmanned-aerial-vehicles (UAV) communicate with each other through multiple antennas carried within each aircraft. However, key challenges exist in airborne or free-space MIMO wireless communications, such as: (i) the absence of rich scattering and reflections; and (ii) the link between each transmit antenna and each receive antenna being an essentially line-of-sight Gaussian channel. Consequently, three-dimensional (3-D) spatial MIMO channels may be highly correlated as they induce a singular MIMO channel matrix, and thus may not offer the promising capacity increase compared to the conventional ground/near-ground MIMO wireless communications. A system, method and computer program product for line of sight (LOS) communications using multiple-input-output (MIMO) communications is disclosed. The system includes a first platform having at least one transmit antenna element and at least one receive antenna element forming a first antenna array. A second platform having at least one transmit antenna element and at least one receive antenna element forms a second antenna array in wireless communication with the first array. Corresponding angles for antenna elements in the first antenna array and antenna elements in the second antenna array relative to a 3-D Cartesian coordinate system are determined to achieve a maximum three-dimensional (3-D) MIMO capacity, and the plurality of antenna elements are adaptively adjusted to maintain the maximum 3-D MIMO capacity by minimizing a zenith angle between each of the transmit antenna elements and receive antenna elements relative to a plane defined by the coordinate system over a LOS link.

Communications, Security, Telecommunications

This technology is the subject of a US patent granted on Sept 10, 2019. Rights are assigned to the United States Air Force but should be available for licensing.

Line of Sight, LOS, Multiple Input Multiple Output, MIMO, Anntenna Arrays

Technology is available for licensing through the US Air Force. Contact the Caesar Group to help connect you to the Tech Transfer agent at the responsible Air Force organization.

Sept 10, 2019

Air Force

https://patents.google.com/patent/US10411772/en?oq=10411772