Single Bounce Air to Ground Communication Channel Capacity for MIMO Applications

Abstract

This paper addresses the air-to-ground communication problem, where multiple transmit antennas are used on the aircraft to combat multi-path interference. The channel is assumed to have a line-of-sight component and a single ground reflection. Multiple input multiple output (MIMO) techniques can be used in this situation, to increase the reliability and data rate. In this paper we discuss how the MIMO channel capacity changes, with the aircraft antenna configuration, altitude, velocity, range, and a number of other parameters. For comparison, the MIMO results are compared to systems which have single antennas at the transmitter, at the receiver, or at both ends.