Over-the-air measurement for MIMO systems

Over-the-air (OTA) testing is an industry standard practice for evaluating transceiver performance in wireless devices. For the fifth generation (5G) and beyond wireless systems with high integration, OTA testing is probably the only reliable method to accurately measure the transceiver performance, suitable for certification as well as for providing feedback for design verification and optimization. Further, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology is extensively applied for stable connection, high throughput rate, and low latency. In this paper, we provide an overview of the three main methods for evaluating the MIMO OTA performance, namely, the multiprobe anechoic chamber (MPAC) method, the reverberation chamber plus channel emulator (RC+CE) method, and the radiated two-stage (RTS) method, with the aim of providing a useful guideline for developing effective wireless performance testing in future 5G-and-beyond wireless systems.