A polarization-based mmWave MIMO communication system

This real-time mmWave (28 GHz) communication system demonstrates the feasibility of using polarization diversity to enhance wireless capacity. By exploiting both horizontal and vertical polarizations, the system achieves two spatial degrees of freedom (DoF), enabling the simultaneous transmission of two independent data streams over the same frequency band. This capability highlights the potential of polarization-based multiplexing as a practical approach to increase throughput in high-frequency wireless systems.

The experimental setup consists of three main hardware components. First, USRP X310 software-defined radio (SDR) platforms are employed for flexible baseband signal processing and system control. Second, Sivers EVK02004 modules provide 28 GHz up/down conversion, supporting operation in the mmWave band. Finally, general-purpose computers are integrated for digital signal processing (DSP) tasks, real-time control, and higher-layer application support. Most of the software stack, including system control, synchronization, and signal processing routines, has been implemented in C to ensure efficiency and low-latency execution.

The mmWave communication system incorporates several key features:

• Real-time video streaming: demonstrating the ability to support high-bandwidth applications with low latency.

• Real-time beam steering at both transmitter and receiver: allowing dynamic adaptation to changes in channel conditions and user mobility.

• Support for 2×2 MIMO transmission: leveraging polarization diversity to increase spectral efficiency.

• Transmitter–receiver synchronization: ensuring reliable symbol alignment and stable system performance in real-time operation.

Together, these features illustrate a complete and practical end-to-end mmWave testbed that not only validates the use of polarization as an additional degree of freedom but also provides a flexible platform for exploring advanced mmWave techniques such as adaptive beamforming, channel estimation, and interference management.