On Noise and Interference Modeling for Over-the-air Testing of MIMO Terminals

As the fifth generation (5G) ecosystem matures, the time for large-scale 5G radio commercialization is now. Over-the-air (OTA) radiated testing is seen to replace currently dominantly adopted cable conducted testing for upcoming radio systems due to integrated antenna designs. To properly evaluate performance of radio systems in fading channel conditions, it is typically needed to model the realistic signal, interference and noise conditions in the testing environment. However, interference and noise modeling is largely overlooked in the literature in OTA testing, since the discussion is typically focused on the signal alone. In this paper, interference and noise modeling in three OTA setups, including the multi-probe anechoic chamber (MPAC), radiated two stage (RTS) and reverberation chamber (RC) is discussed and summarized.