Multiple-Input Multiple-Output Channel Models: Theory and Practice

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INTRODUCTION

We begin with a brief historical account of some of the major contributors to wireless communications. We then list background material on multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) communications, MIMO channel models, and software defined radio (SDR) and include some important references. The chapter concludes with a brief summary of the remainder of the text.

1.1 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

In retrospect, wireless communications in its current form is the result of many discoveries made by many people over hundreds of years. In the literature, a handful of people is credited with the most important discoveries in wireless communication theory. The origins of wireless communication can be traced back to the first experiments on electricity and magnetism.

1.1.1 Electromagnetism

The eighteenth century saw the discovery of electricity, including Benjamin Franklin's famous kite-flying experiments, and the invention of the battery by Alessandre Volta in 1800. In the latter half of the eighteenth century, some people began to suspect that there might be a connection between electricity and magnetism. In 1820, the Danish physicist Hans Christan Øersted first made the observation that he could force a compass needle to deflect at right angles to a current-carrying wire. This was perhaps the first concrete evidence that electricity and magnetism were somehow linked (1). Later that same year, a week after hearing about Øersted's discovery, the French physicist André-Marie Ampère presented ...