The MIMO application architecture allows wireless device and network designers to develop and evaluate their own algorithms to solve many of the practical problems associated with real-world, multi-user MIMO implementations. Furthermore, it scales from 4 to 128 antennas when used with the NI USRP RIO and NI PXI hardware platforms, enabling users to create systems of all sizes with seamless integration and minimal design effort. Researchers can use the pre-configured system to conduct Massive MIMO experiments and seamlessly integrate their own custom signal processing algorithms in a fraction of the time compared to other approaches, thus accelerating the overall design process—a critical factor as the wireless industry races to define the 5G standard.
As participants in NI's communications/RF pioneer user program, researchers from the University of Bristol have used the flexible prototyping platform for 5G research and recently announced in conjunction with Lund University a world record, increasing spectral efficiency 22 times over current 4G networks.
