A Distributed Massive MIMO Testbed to assess
Real-World Performance & Feasibility
Paul Harris, Siming Zhang, Andrew Nix, Mark Beach, Simon Armour and Angela Doufexi
Communication Systems & Networks Group, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1UB, UK
Email: {paul.harris, sz1659, andy.nix, m.a.beach, simon.armour, a.doufexi}@bristol.ac.uk
Abstract — This paper introduces a novel 128-element sub-
6 GHz Massive MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output)
testbed being developed by the University of Bristol in
collaboration with National Instruments and Lund University
as part of the BIO (Bristol is Open) city testbed. Distributed
Massive MIMO systems avoid large single-piece antenna facets
and their associated windage problems and also offer greater
spatial diversity, but node synchronization and phase
alignment becomes more challenging. Simulated network
performance of a co-located 128-element 3D Multi-User MIMO
system at a possible test site in Bristol are presented based on
our 3D channel propagation model.
Index Terms – Massive MIMO, Distributed, Testbed, 5G.
I. INTRODUCTION
One possible constraint that may inhibit the realisation
of massive MIMO (multiple-input, multiple-output) BS
(Base Station) deployments operating in the sub-6 GHz
bands is the mounting of large antenna arrays, as the form
factor of these will need to adhere to strict planning
regulations and withstand strong wind conditions when
placed on a mast. A D-M-MIMO (distributed massive
MIMO) system would allow the BS antennas to be broken
down into more easily deployable segments, improving
spatial diversity and providing greater flexibility for finding
the optimal antenna configuration at a given site [1].
This paper outlines a state-of-the-art D-M-MIMO
testbed that is being developed at the UoB (University of
Bristol) through collaboration with NI (National
Instruments) and Lund University as part of the BIO (Bristol
is Open) city testbed. The system has been designed to allow
for both distributed and collocated deployments enabling
researchers to tackle both avenues. As a key part of Bristol’s
Programmable City Testbed [2], it is posed to provide a
highly flexible platform for tackling pragmatic massive
MIMO research that will ultimately help better establish the
feasibility and performance of the technology for use in
future 5G systems.
II. SYSTEM OVERVIEW
The Bristol D-M-MIMO system is an evolution of a
pioneering testbed recently developed at Lund University for
conducting real-world tests in the surrounding campus. It
will operate with 128 antenna elements, a bandwidth of 20
MHz, TDD (time division duplexing) and assume reciprocal
channels for precoding. The hardware used will permit
operating frequencies between 1.2 GHz and 6 GHz. As data
on the Lund system is already available in [3], this overview
978-1-4799-8088-8/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE
will focus on the differences in the new D-M-MIMO
implementation at Bristol.
A. Hardware & Software Architecture
Leveraging the modular and hierarchical design used for
the Lund testbed, the Bristol D-M-MIMO system focuses on
allowing the NI PXI (PCI Extensions for Instrumentation)
chassis to be easily unshackled. The 4 slave PXI chassis
shown in [3] will be physically separable into nodes, each
with 32 antenna elements connected to 16 NI USRPs
(Universal Software-defined Radio Peripherals). These will
then communicate back to the master PXI chassis using
either short-range PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect
Express) links for collocated deployments or a pre-existing
fibre-optic network for distributed deployments. UE (User
Equipment) nodes will be provided by individual USRPs
connected to laptops, and as each USRP has two radios, each
node can either act as two single-antenna users or one user
with two spatial streams.
The NI graphical programming language, LabVIEW,
will be used to configure the operation of the FPGAs (Field-
programmable gate arrays) on-board both the USRPs and
PXI chassis, as well as the higher level processing on the
master PXI chassis controller. The LabVIEW FPGA
paradigm allows for rapid prototyping and abstracts the
underlying semantic complexities of FPGA development.
B. Antenna Array & Switchable Polarisation
Cross-polarised patch antenna elements are likely to be
used for the antenna array, but the form factor will be
segmented, allowing for 4 pieces to each break away with
their respective slave PXI chassis. In order to improve the
flexibility of the system for different tests and environments,
it was deemed beneficial to implement a simple way for
switching the polarisation of each array element and avoid
rewiring. By utilising the digital interface on the front of
each USRP and RF relays, reconfiguration of the entire array
will be possible through software at the click of a button.
III. SIMULATION RESULTS AND FUTURE WORK
In line with our testbed, theoretical network simulations
were performed as a baseline for the achievable cell
capacity. Our simulation evaluates the system performance
of massive 3D multi-user MIMO for realistic urban
deployments, i.e. Macro and Pico cells, and our current
configuration assumes a collocated 128-element BS antenna
array simultaneously serving 16 single-antenna UEs; D-M-
MIMO configurations will be implemented in the near
future. A 3D laser-scanned environmental database (in this To perform system level analysis in a computationally
study a database for the city of Bristol (UK)) was used as efficient and scalable manner, a physical layer abstraction
input to UoB’s 3D ray-tracing channel model along with technique, RBIR (Received Bit level mutual Information
measured 3D antenna patterns for the individual BS and UE Rate), was used to predict the packet error rate for 1000
antenna elements. The demonstrated BS sites (one Macrocell channel realisations across the allocated OFDM (Orthogonal
and one Picocell) are chosen on the map to accurately match Frequency Division Multiplexing) subcarriers. Due to the
our future test sites. intensive signal processing required in M-MIMO systems,
all simulations were executed on UoB’s High Performance
A. Antenna Characteristics and Configuration
Computing platform which comprises 5,500 Intel Xeon
Our BS is configured as a half-wavelength spaced
cores; this has increased results turn-over more than 100
64(column)-by-2(row) antenna array, which could be easily
times.
changed to any desired antenna design. For the Macrocell,
the BS antenna elements are cross-polarised patch antennas D. Results and Future Work
with each polarisation counting as a logical antenna; for the The achievable throughput is strongly connected to the
Picocell, cross-polarised dipole antennas are used. Each channel richness, UE scheduling and the antenna
element is measured in our anechoic chamber, and the 3D configurations at both the transmitter and receiver. Our
complex voltage and polarimetric pattern is applied as a preliminary results show that the median data rate
spatial-polarisation-phase convolution process on the pure approached 655Mbps in the Picocell and 378Mbps in the
3D channel model. Macrocell, notwithstanding the peak rate of just over
1.2Gbps. To better exploit large degrees of freedom and
B. Channel Model and Ray-Tracing provide enhanced array and diversity gain, future work will
The channel propagation study was performed using the use a more advanced UE scheduling algorithm, improved
UoB’s outdoor 3D ray-tracer, which was used to generate channel precoding and BS antenna design, as well as the D-
many of the statistics now specified in the 3D extension of M-MIMO BS configuration.
the 3GPP/ITU channel model [4-6]. Table I summarises the
ray-tracing parameters for the chosen Macro and Pico cells. IV. CONCLUSIONS
The city database comprises buildings, foliage and terrain
This paper has presented a D-M-MIMO testbed that is
layers with 10m resolution. Users were randomly dropped
under development at the UoB with project partners. Coupled
within each cell.
with the UoB’s capability for performing realistic city-wide
C. Network Simulator and Parameters system evaluations with a state-of-the-art 3D channel model,
In order to quantify the data throughput performance, a it will provide an unprecedented opportunity to tackle the
MU-MIMO Downlink simulator was implemented in pragmatic research problems associated with both M-MIMO
MATLAB. Here we assumed the network operating and its distributed form factor.
frequency was 2.6 GHz with a bandwidth of 20 MHz and
1200 data subcarriers. Closed-loop Eigen-Beamforming was ACKNOWLEDGMENT
used as the channel precoding method. UE scheduling was
performed in a random manor from LOS (line-of-sight) and The authors would like to acknowledge the technical
non-LOS locations, and results were averaged over 100 inputs of both Lund University (Sweden) and NI. This work
iterations to maintain statistical relevance. was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences
Research Council [EP/I028153/1] and the Centre for
TABLE I. SUMMARY OF RAY-TRACING PARAMETERS Doctoral Training in Communications at the University of
Bristol.
Macro cells Pico cells
Environment 17.6km2 area of central Bristol (UK) REFERENCES
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