Performance Evaluation of Linear Precoding mmWave Multi-User MIMO Systems with NYUSIM Channel Simulator

In this paper, we evaluate the performance of the digital beamsteering (DBS) precoder in multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems operating at mmWave frequencies. This evaluation is done using a 3-D mmWave statistical channel model developed based on outdoor extensive measurement in New York city. The NYUSIM channel simulator generates 3-D realistic statistical temporal and spatial parameters. The DBS performance is evaluated in terms of capacity achieved as a function of the number of users and compared with two classical precoders, namely, zero forcing (ZF) and conjugate beamforming (CB). The base station is equipped with three different antenna array configurations: uniform linear array, uniform square array and uniform rectangular array. Simulation results show that DBS can be realistically considered as an attractive precoder for mmWave multi-user MIMO system with tens of antennas at the base station; trading-off performance, low implementation complexity and less overhead.