A versatile spatio-temporal correlation function for mobile fading channels with non-isotropic scattering

For the analysis and design of adaptive antenna arrays in mobile fading channels, we need a model for the spatio-temporal correlation among the array elements. In this paper we propose a general spatio-temporal correlation function, where non-isotropic scattering is modeled by von Mises distribution, an empirically-verified model for non-uniformly distributed angle of arrival. The proposed correlation function has a closed form and is suitable for both mathematical analysis and numerical calculations. The utility of the new correlation function has been demonstrated by quantifying the effect of non-isotropic scattering on the performance of two applications of the antenna arrays for multiuser multichannel detection and single-user diversity reception. Comparison of the proposed correlation model with published data in the literature shows the flexibility of the model in fitting real data.