While significant work has appeared regarding the analysis of
multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and antenna diversity systems, 
the problem of synthesizing MIMO and diversity antennas that are optimal 
under certain assumptions has received relatively little attention.
Furthermore, it is difficult to quantify the performance of a
practical MIMO antenna relative to an achievable bound. This talk
discusses methods for determining the antenna radiation
characteristics that will maximize the system diversity gain given
very general information about the system operating environment.
Because array supergain can influence the results, the discussion
includes methods for controlling the level of array supergain. The
performance of practical antenna configurations, such as simple
dipole arrays designed either using classical procedures or genetic
algorithm optimization, are shown in the context of the achievable
bound. The framework is also extended to allow computation of a MIMO
system capacity bound that is independent of the antenna
configuration used. This allows further assessment of the
performance of practical antenna designs relative to the theoretical
limit.