Comments on the Article MIMO over Satellite: A

Review, Scheduled for Publication in IEEE

Communications Surveys & Tutorials
R.T. Schwarz1,2) and A. Knopp1,2)
Email: {robert.schwarz, andreas.knopp}@unibw.de
1)

Federal Office of the German Bundeswehr

for Information Management and Information Technology,
Satellite Communications Division, 56026 Koblenz, Germany.

AbstractThis is a comment on the journal article MIMO

over Satellite: A Review which has been accepted for inclusion
in a future issue of the journal IEEE COMMUNCIATIONS
SURVEYS & TUTORIALS. This comment concerns multipleinput multiple-output (MIMO) satellite communications systems
for fixed satellite services (FSS). While disregarding published
results of current research, the authors of the article come to
the general conclusion that the highly correlated Line-of-Sight
(LOS) satellite channel contrasts high MIMO capacity gains.
Consequentially, in their opinion fixed satellite services (FSS)
using single-satellite concepts are unsuitable as a possible MIMO
application. We will argue, however, that even maximum channel
capacity can be assessed in fully correlated LOS MIMO satellite
channels. Hence, in our opinion the single-satellite FSS scenario is
even amongst the most relevant satellite MIMO applications. For
this reason we strongly recommend to revise the journal paper
accordingly in order to ensure a comprehensive state-of-the-art
knowledge provided in the article MIMO over Satellite.

I. I NTRODUCTION
The journal article MIMO over Satellite: A Review is
dedicated to multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems
and their possible application to satellite communications. In
the following we will point out important deficiencies of this
contribution w.r.t. fixed satellite services (FSS)-architectures,
which should be improved for the final version of the article.
The problem addressed here deals with the question whether
FSS-architectures, in particular system concepts with a single
satellite and multiple ground station antennas, are suitable to
achieve high MIMO capacity gains.
Although the authors of the article state in section II A
Impact of Line-of-Sight that a linear (optimal) capacity
growth under certain conditions is achievable in the case of
Line-of-Sight (LOS) channels, the overall conclusion of the
paper rates highly correlated LOS channels inappropriate for
high capacity gains. We do not agree to this conclusion, since
it is not supported by current research results. Our reply
primarily addresses section IV-A of the abovementioned article
where fixed satellite services (FSS) in contrast to mobile
satellite services are discussed. In particular the authors state:
[. . . ] The prerequisite so that SU-MIMO configurations fully
exploit the diversity and spatial multiplexing advantages pre-

2)

Institute for Communications Engineering,

Munich University of the German Bundeswehr,
85579 Neubiberg, Germany.

dicted by information theory is the existence of a rich

scattering environment [. . . ] Otherwise, the channel matrix
becomes rank deficient and the MIMO system performance
degenerates to that of the corresponding SISO system. This
is the case of fixed, single satellite systems operating above
10 GHz [. . . ]
In our opinion this statement is basically not correct and
misleading. We will provide our reasoning thereafter:
II. L ITERATURE OVERVIEW
Highly correlated MIMO channels do not generally contradict high capacity gains. P. F. Driessen and G. J. Foschini [1]
have already shown in 1999 that high MIMO capacity gains in
a LOS environment are possible under certain conditions. To
be more precise, particular antenna arrangements are required
for optimum MIMO LOS capacity. Motivated by [1], several
further investigations have discovered the potential of the LOS
signal component for high capacity gains in terrestrial wireless
indoor and outdoor channels (please refer for example to
[2] and the references therein). These very promising results
have later been transferred to the transmission channel for
geostationary satellites [3]. In the meanwhile, several further
investigations on the MIMO satellite channel have shown
that, under certain geometrical conditions, maximum channel
capacity is achievable also in FSS-architectures [4], [5].
III. D ETAILED R EASONING
All the cited work contrasts the authors conclusion that
fixed, single-satellite systems are inappropriate for implementing the MIMO technology. Moreover, the possibility
to form LOS satellite MIMO channels, which offer even
maximum channel capacity also in the single-satellite case,
is undisputed today. As shown in [3] the key for a capacityoptimized MIMO satellite channel is an enlarged antenna
spacing, either at the ground station or at the satellite side.
Consequentially, in a single-satellite scenario with small antenna separations onboard the satellite, enlarged spacing of the
ground terminal antennas (several 10 km) is required. Based
on this, there exist various potential applications for singlesatellite MIMO FSS. Taking into account current FSS-diversity

systems, large separations of the ground based antenna front

ends are common practice already in order to improve the
reliability. Future FSS MIMO systems, therefore, will offer the
advantage of combining improved reliability with maximum
MIMO channel capacity [5].
If a dual- or multiple-satellite system is applied instead for
the sake of a smaller antenna separation at the ground terminal,
the reliability or diversity gain will vanish. Furthermore, high
MIMO capacity will only be achieved if two widely separated
satellites are employed. Such a system concept goes along
with several severe problems as for example:
frequency and orbit coordination limits: Since it is nearly
impossible to illuminate several satellites on different
orbit positions without disturbing other satellites amongst,
multiple satellite MIMO systems can hardly be coordinated.
synchronization aspects
capacity losses due to independent satellite drifts within
the station-keeping-boxes
Please refer to the analyses carried out in [4] for further details.
In summary, the feasibility of a capacity optimal FSS MIMO
system based on multiple satellites must be doubted, while its
single-satellite counterpart seems to be realizable in practice. If
in addition it is kept in mind that FSS solely rely on the LOS
signal component, a geometrically optimized ground station
setup combined with a single satellite carrying a MIMOpayload must be considered as a very relevant application.
IV. R ESUME AND R ECOMMENDATIONS
The results and facts summarized in this comment have
been extensively studied and published in the past and should,
therefore, not be neglected in a current review article. From
todays perspective we are confident that the single-satellite
scenario for FSS is a highly promising and relevant MIMO
application apart from mobile applications, which have indeed
been taken into account already in the abovementioned article.
In our opinion, a major revision of this article is required to include FSS-MIMO appropriately and provide a comprehensive
review of the research topic MIMO over Satellite.
R EFERENCES
[1] P. Driessen and G. Foschini, On the capacity formula for multiple
input-multiple output wireless channels: a geometric interpretation, IEEE
Transactions on Communications, vol. 47, no. 2, pp. 173176, Feb 1999.
[2] I. Sarris and A. Nix, Design and performance assessment of highcapacity mimo architectures in the presence of a line-of-sight component,
Vehicular Technology, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 56, no. 4, pp. 2194
2202, 2007.
[3] R. Schwarz, A. Knopp, D. Ogermann, C. Hofinann, and B. Lankl,
Optimum-capacity mimo satellite link for fixed and mobile services,
in International ITG Workshop on Smart Antennas, 2008. WSA 2008.,
2008, pp. 209 216.
[4] A. Knopp, R. Schwarz, D. Ogermann, C. Hofmann, and B. Lankl,
Satellite system design examples for maximum mimo spectral efficiency
in los channels, in IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference, 2008.
IEEE GLOBECOM 2008., 30 2008.
[5] A. Knopp, R. T. Schwarz, and B. Lankl, On the capacity degradation
in broadband mimo satellite downlinks with atmospheric impairments,
in IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), 2010, May
2010, pp. 1 6.