The objective of the book is to present a scientific methodology that can be used
to analyze the physics of multiantenna systems. The multiantenna systems are
becoming exceedingly popular because they promise a different dimension
(spatial diversity) than what is currently available to the communication systems
engineers. Simultaneously using multiple transmit and receive antennas provides
a means to perform spatial diversity, at least from a theoretical standpoint. In this
way, one can increase the capacities of existing systems that already exploit time
and frequency diversity. The deployment of multiantenna systems is equivalent
to using an overmoded waveguide, where information is simultaneously
transmitted via not only the dominant mode but also through all the higher-order
modes. We look into this interesting possibility and study why communication
engineers advocate the use of such a system, whereas electromagnetic and
microwave engineers have avoided such propagation mechanisms in their
systems. Most importantly, we study the physical principles of multiantenna
systems through Maxwell’s equations and utilize them to perform various
numerical simulations to observe how a typical system will behave in practice.
The first five chapters of this book are devoted to this topic.