Over the Air Testing for Massive MIMO Arrays

A method for testing a MIMO array antenna, the method including:

• positioning a MIMO array antenna on a mount in an anechoic chamber, wherein the MIMO array antenna has at least 8×4 antenna elements that are individually activated to steer transmissions from the MIMO array antenna;
• using at least one pair of dual element antenna probes positioned in the anechoic chamber, generating RF in over-the-air communication with the MIMO array antenna, with feeds coupling one or more UE sources to the dual element antenna probes, wherein the UE sources emulate multiple UE devices;
• signaling the UE sources over-the-air via the MIMO array antenna, using base station electronics coupled to a test controller, connecting with the UE sources;
• evaluating performance according to a reference direction of the MIMO array antenna for a first distribution of test probes in the anechoic chamber wherein dual element antenna probes in the first distribution of test probes are substantially clumped in an area to allow the MIMO array antenna to observe isolation between directions to multiple users, wherein the MIMO array antenna can be rotated or tilted or rolled to observe the performance when probes fall at the center versus at an edge of array coverage;
• and
• measuring over-the-air channel performance between the MIMO array antenna and each of the multiple UE devices emulated, the performance including at least throughput.

A tangible non-transitory computer readable media with instructions that are combinable with a processor and memory coupled to the processor to carry out a method for testing a massive MIMO array antenna positioned within an anechoic chamber and having individually activated antenna elements to steer transmissions from the array, the method including:

• using at least one pair of dual element antenna probes positioned in the anechoic chamber, generating RF in over-the-air communication with the MIMO array antenna, with feeds coupling one or more UE sources to the dual element antenna probes, wherein the UE sources emulate multiple UE devices;
• signaling over-the-air via the MIMO array antenna, the UE sources using base station electronics coupled to a test controller, connecting with the UE sources;
• evaluating performance according to a reference direction of the MIMO array antenna for a first distribution of test probes in the anechoic chamber wherein dual element antenna probes in the first distribution of test probes are substantially clumped in an area to allow the MIMO array antenna to observe isolation between directions to multiple users, wherein the MIMO array antenna can be rotated or tilted or rolled to observe the performance when probes fall at the center versus at an edge of array coverage;
• and
• measuring over-the-air channel performance between the MIMO array antenna and each of the multiple UE devices emulated, the performance including at least throughput.