Characterizing in-band full-duplex in broadcast communications: From field trials to a loopback channel model

In-band full duplex (IBFD) communications are a potential solution to spectrum scarcity. IBFD communications offer greater spectral efficiency than traditional half-duplex communications by transmitting and receiving on the same frequency channel. However, IBFD operation requires overcoming the challenge of eliminating the self-interference coupled from the transmit antenna to the receive subsystem. Knowledge of the characteristics of the loopback propagation channel makes it easier to cancel out the self-interference. Nevertheless, complex field trials are required to adequately characterize loopback channels, which is still lacking in the recent literature. This paper proposes a measurement campaign in a real and ongoing broadcast transmission center to characterize the main characteristics of loopback channels. The work proposes a set of loopback channels based on field trials and an empirical analysis of the most relevant parameters of the channel model, such as the Doppler spectrum, the delay spread, and the K-factor.