Methods of antenna system control in massive mimo systems

A communication device, comprising:

• a selection matrix module configured to couple a plurality of RF chains to a first subset of antennas from among a plurality of antennas to enable signal transmissions via the first subset of antennas;
• a plurality of measurement modules, each measurement module from among the plurality of measurement modules being configured to measure transmission signal metrics utilizing a respective antenna within a second subset of antennas from among the plurality of antennas, the second subset of antennas not being used for signal transmission;
• and
• a decision module configured to control the selection matrix module to switch coupling of at least one of the plurality of RF chains from the first subset of antennas to the second subset of antennas if the transmission signal metrics indicate that the switching would result in improved transmission signal performance.

In a communication device, a method of selecting antennas within a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) system for communications with another communication device, comprising:

• coupling each radio frequency (RF) chain from among a plurality of RF chains to corresponding antennas from among a first subset of a plurality of antennas;
• measuring a plurality of communication performance metrics utilizing a second subset of the plurality of antennas that are not being utilized for the communications between the communication device and the another communication device;
• and
• determining if switching the coupling of an RF chain from among the plurality of RF chains from a first antenna within the first subset to a second antenna within the second subset would result in improved communications performance based on the plurality of communication performance metrics.