Wireless Communications Systems with Spatial Diversity: A Volumetric Approach

Abstract — This paper presents a new physical modelling approach for wireless systems with multiple antennas. The fundamental problem of modelling the communications channel if we are given an arbitrary spatial volume for transmitting, an arbitrary spatial volume for receiving, and a set of scattering bodies is studied. We show how to calculate the number of communication modes, both for direct (point-to-point) and for scattering environments. Our work explains the physical parameters which determine the channel model and its channel capacity. I