A Comparison Study of 2D and 3D ITU Channel Model

Recently there has been strong interest in extending MIMO signal processing from the azimuth dimension to include the elevation plane. However, many channel models, such as the 3GPP/ITU model, focus on two dimensional propagation, i.e. propagation in the azimuth plane only. The assumption of 2D propagation may lead to inaccurate estimation of channel capacity, spatial correlation and system level performance in environments where the distribution of the elevation angles is significant. In this paper, we implement a 3D extension of the 3GPP/ITU 2D channel model by adding elevation angle statistics generated by a state-of-the-art 3D ray tracer. The paper also presents a comparison study between the implemented 3D 3GPP/ITU model and the ray tracer channel statistics. We also show the impact of considering 3D components on the channel ergodic capacity, antenna spatial correlation and large/small scale parameters (total received power, delay spread, angular spread, and K-factor).