Making the Most of MIMO

Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) systems use multiple antennas at the transmitter end and at the receiver end of a connection to dramatically increase capacity. With these benefits, MIMO is being incorporated into industry standards and deployed in LTE and WiMAX systems. But can MIMO also be applied to microwave systems with line-of-sight connections and highly directional antennas? This article provides a high-level view of how MIMO works. It also explains the principles that apply to MIMO in non line-of-sight and line-of-sight scenarios to help service providers understand when and where MIMO makes sense.