Technique of optimal antenna choice in MIMO networks

DOI: 10.31673/2412-9070.2026.026312

Abstract

This paper addresses an antenna selection method in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, aimed at optimizing channel capacity and improving energy efficiency. It is well known that increasing the number of transmit and receive antennas in MIMO systems significantly enhances data rates and robustness against interference; however, this advantage comes at the cost of employing additional radio frequency (RF) chains, which leads to high power consumption and increased hardware costs. The proposed approach is based on selecting a subset of the most effective antennas from the available set, which allows preserving the key benefits of MIMO while reducing the number of active RF chains.
The paper presents a mathematical model of the antenna selection technique that exploits channel state information (CSI) at the transmitter side to achieve performance close to that of full diversity systems. The impact of spatial correlation among antennas on the channel capacity is analyzed using spatial channel models (SCM) recommended by 3GPP, considering various propagation environments such as Rayleigh fading, urban macrocell, and microcell scenarios.
Simulation results obtained in Matlab demonstrate the relationship between channel capacity, bit error rate (BER), and the number of selected antennas under different signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) levels. It is shown that the optimal selection of transmit antennas provides a significant increase in spectral efficiency while simultaneously reducing system power consumption. In particular, at SNR = 18 dB, the BER reaches the level of 10⁻³, which meets the stringent requirements for reliable data transmission in modern wireless networks.
Therefore, the proposed method can be effectively applied for the design of energy-efficient and cost-effective MIMO systems, including large-scale multi-user networks of future generations (5G/6G). The obtained results confirm the practical feasibility of antenna selection techniques to balance high channel capacity, reduced hardware complexity, and minimized energy consumption.

Keywords: MIMO, antenna selection technique, channel state information (CSI), channel capacity.