Beamforming

Beamforming uses multiple antennas to control the direction of a

wavefront by appropriately weighting the magnitude and phase of
individual antenna signals (transmit beamforming).

For example this makes it possible to provide better coverage to

specific areas along the edges of cells. Because every single
antenna in the array makes a contribution to the steered signal, an
array gain (also called beamforming gain) is achieved.
Receive beamforming makes it possible to determine the direction
that the wavefront will arrive (direction of arrival, or DoA).

It is also possible to suppress selected interfering signals by

applying a beam pattern null in the direction of the interfering signal

Adaptive beamforming refers to the technique of continually applyin

beamforming to a moving receiver. This requires rapid signal
processing and powerful algorithms.
Because beamforming is intended to provide the best signal
possible to a UE at a specific location, finding the weight vector
w is an essential step. Two basic methods for finding the weight
vector can be used which also affects the arrangement of the
antenna array. The distance d between the antennas is a critical
factor as well.
Determining the weighting using DoA
If the position of the UE is known, the beamforming weightings
can be adapted accordingly to optimize transmission for this UE.
Therefore, specialized algorithms, such as MUSIC [4] or ESPRIT
[5]), could be used in the base station to determine the DoA for
the UE signal, and thus to determine its location. A uniform linear
array (ULA) antenna array is typically used, where the distance d
between the individual antennas is the same and d ≤ λ/2. This
type of array can be seen as a spatial filtering and sampling in the
signal space. Just as the Nyquist criterion applies to sampling a
signal over time, the distance here must be d ≤ λ/2 in order to
determine the DoA.
Determining the weighting using channel estimation
Other algorithms determine the optimum beamforming weighting
from a channel estimation; for example, by using existing training
sequences. In a TDD system, uplink and downlink are on the same
frequency and thus the channel characteristics are the same. That
is why a feedback is not needed from the UE when a suitable uplink
signal is present that the base station can use to estimate the
channel. In the case of TD-LTE, the uplink sounding reference
signal can be used.
 Applications of beamforming technology

Applications Description

RADAR Phased array RADAR; air traffic control; synthetic

aperture RADAR

SONAR Source location and classification

Communications Smart antenna systems; Directional transmission and

reception; sector broadcast in satellite communications

Imaging Ultrasonic; optical; tomographic

Geophysical Exploration Earth crust mapping; oil exploration

Astrophysical Exploration High resolution imaging of universe

Biomedical Neuronal spike discrimination; fetal heart monitoring;

tissue hyperthermia; hearing aids

Source: B.D.Van Veen and K.M. Buckley, University of Michigan, “Beamforming: A

Versatile approach to spatial filtering”,1988
Phased array RADAR
 Beamformers vs. omnidirectional antennas

1) Beamformers have much higher Gain than omnidirectional antennas:

Increase coverage and reduce number of antennas!
 Beamformers vs. omnidirectional antennas

2) Beamformers can reject interference while omnidirectional

antennas can’t: Improve SNR and system capacity!

interference null interference

user user

3) Beamformers directionally send down link information to the

users while omnidirectional antennas can’t: save energy!
 Beamformers vs. omnidirectional antennas

4) Beamformers provide N-fold diversity Gain of omnidirectional antennas:

increase system capacity

5) Beamformers suppress delay spread:improve signal quality

null

user user
multipath
 DOA estimation
Plane wave

……

φk

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
…… N-3 N-2 N-1 N

d
δ k  d sin φk phase delay
 Basic phased array configurations

sN(k) Z-1 Z-1

sN(k) w*N
w*N,0 w*N,1 w*N,k-1

.
.
.
.
. .
y (k ) .
. s2(k)
s2(k) w*2  Z-1 . Z-1
y (k )
w*2,0 w*2,1 w*2,k-1

.
.
.

s1(k) w*1

s1(k) Z-1 Z-1

w*1,0 w*1,1 w*1,k-1

.
.
.
Narrowband broadband

phased array (fixed/adaptive) configurations-time domain

Basic phased array configurations

F I y (k )
F
sN(k) F w*N 

…
T F
. . T
. . -
. . +
F d (t ) MSE
s2(k) F …
w*2
T
F
F
T
F
F w*1
s1(k)
…

broadband

phased array (fixed/adaptive) configuration-frequency domain

 Smart antenna systems

Cellular Wireless
Military
communication local area
networks
networks networks
switched array switched array switched array
adaptive array adaptive array adaptive array

3G Data rate:100kbps Wi-Fi Data rate:11Mbps

 Smart antenna systems
top view(horizontal)

5 4
6 3
7 2
interference
8 1

9 16 user

10 15

11 14
12 13

Switched array (predetermined)

 Smart antenna systems

top view(horizontal)
Interference 1

user 1

user 2
Interference 2

Adaptive array
 Polarization
circular ellipse linear
Ei

E i sin γe jη Z E E E
i
E cos γ

Y
   
E E E

’ X

=45 =0
=90
Super CART

SuperCART
Compact array radiolocation technology
Flam&Russell,Inc.,1990
U.S. Patent No., 5,300,885;1994
Frequency range: 2 – 30 MHz
 3-loop
V6
Y

V4
V0e   I (0) Z L
Ve   I ( ) Z L  X

V1 V2
b

V3
i
V5 I   zˆ  H 0

i
kb0.5 I   yˆ  E0
Vector antennas vs. spatial array antennas

Vector antennas measure: ,,,, and power simultaneously,

no phase shift device, or synchronization is needed.

Phased array antennas with omnidirectional element measure:

,, and power
 Vector antennas vs. spatial array antennas

VA SA VA

SA

Source: Nehorai,A.,University of Illinois at Chicago

Vector antennas vs. spatial array antennas

Vector antenna: no ambiguities for DOA estimation

e x , e y , e z , h x , h y , hz  φ, θ,γ , η, P

Phased array antennas: spatial ambiguities exist

φk φ1

φ2

1 2 ……
3 4 5 6 7 1 2 ……
3 4 5 6 7

φk f1 sin φ1  f2 sin φ2
 Vector antennas Vs. phased array antennas

Disadvantages of vector antennas

Low profile?

f=2.4GHz,  =0.125m; vector antenna size: 0.0125m ~ 0.063m

Phased array:d /2=0.063m;L=(N-1)d: 0.188m-0.69m(N=4…12)

f=800MHz,  =0.375m; antenna size: 0.04m ~ 0.19m

Phased array:d /2=0.19m;L=(N-1)d: 0.56m-2.06m(N=4…12)

Cheap?

Can use hardware and software of existing communication

systems for performance?
 Working in scattering environment

source:M.R. Andrews et al., Nature, Vol. 409(6818), 18 Jan. 2001, pp 316-318.

 Packet switching: 3 beam system
top view(horizontal)
Pi 1

Pi 1  Pi 1
d
Pi
Δφ
Pi
Δφ
φmax
i
 1 / d  2   ( Δφ / 2), d  1
 i
φˆ DOA  φmax  d  ( Δφ / 2), d 1
 i
φmax  1 / d  2   ( Δφ / 2), d  1

Pi 1

P. Sanchis, et al. 02
 An indoor WLAN design
A 4-story office building (including basement), high 30 m, wide 60m and long 100m. We
plan to install a Vivato switched array on the 3rd floor.

Switched array

2
h=30m
1

Basement
w=60m

L=100m
 An indoor WLAN design

Data rate 1Mbps, 2Mbps, 5.5Mbps, 11Mbps

AP’s EIEP 44dBm
AP’s antenna Gain GA 25 dBi
PC antenna Gain GP 0 dBi
Shadowing 8dB
AP’s antenna receiving sensitivity Smin -95dBm ,-92dBm, ,-89dBm, -86dBm
AP’s Noise floor -178dBm/Hz
Body/orientation loss 2dB
Soft partition attenuate factor (p= number) p1.39 dB

Concrete-wall attenuate factor(q= number) q2.38 dB

Average floor attenuation(floor number) 14.0dB(1),19.0dB(2),23.0dB(3),26.0dB(4)
Frequency 2.4GHz
Reference pathloss PL0 (LOS/NLS, r=1m) 45.9dB/ 50.3dB
Pathloss exponent  (LOS/NLS, r=1m) 2.1/3.0
Pathloss standard deviation  (LOS/NLS) 2.3dB/4.1dB

Average floor attenuation(floor number) 14.0dB(1),19.0dB(2),23.0dB(3),26.0dB(4)

Data of AP’s antenna is from www.vivato.net

Beamforming antennas in ad hoc networks

Medium Access Control Protocol(CSMA/CA)

CSMA/CA:carrier sense multiple access/collision avoidance
( for omnidirectional antennas)
 No standard MAC protocols for directional antenna
 No obvious improvement for throughput using beamforming antennas

Neighbor discovery
 Neighbor discovery become more complex using beamforming antennas.

Packet routing (Scheduled/On-demand)

 Ad hoc networks may achieve better performance in some cases
using beamforming antennas.
 Beamforming antennas can significantly increasing node and
network lifetime in ad hoc networks.
 Conclusion
Beamforming antenna systems improve wireless
network performance
-increase system capacity
-improve signal quality
-suppress interference and noise
-save power
Beamforming antennas improve infrastructure
networks performance. They may improve ad hoc
networks performance. New MAC protocol
standards are needed.
Vector antennas may replace spatial arrays to
further improve beamforming performance