Polarization Reconfigurable Spatial Modulation (PR-SM)

Abstract

With the emerging paradigm shift from spectral efficiency (SE) to energy efficiency (EE) in modern communication systems, spatial modulation (SM) aims to be a viable alternative to conventional multi-input multi-output (MIMO) techniques. There is an emergence of new technologies such as ultra-massive MIMO antenna panels capable of activating one of 1024 antenna elements and polarization reconfigurable antennas (PRAs) that can dynamically change their polarization state based on channel state information (CSI). These tools can be used together to form a polarization reconfigurable spatial modulation (PR-SM) communication system. This thesis proposes a method to find the optimal polarization angles (OPAs) in a PR-SM system which minimizes the antenna index error rate (AiER) and correspondingly, the symbol error rate (SER). By working with existing demodulation techniques, this thesis shows how to theoretically calculate the OPAs and compare the SER performance to conventional MIMO systems with fixed horizontal and dual polarized antenna elements.