Massive MIMO System Level Performance Results of a Dense Antenna Array

In this work we present system level simulation results of a dense massive MIMO array constructed using Quadrifilar Helical Antenna (QHA) elements. The QHA array RF feed network makes use of an integrated Decoupling Matching Network (DMN) to provide isolation between each feed port. The QHA and DMN design is carried out fully in Ansys HFSS® software. The system level simulator (SLS) is a custom built software that is 5G compliant and utilizes the latest 3GPP channel model. The results using this dense antenna array are compared against several configurations of the typical MMIMO array constructed using cross-polarized dipole elements. The results indicate the potential of increasing the system capacity of a fixed size antenna aperture through increasing the antenna port density beyond the typical half-wavelength spacing. We also present some discussions on future investigation directions.