Beamforming Antennas for

Wireless Communications

Yikun Huang, Ph.D.

ECE/CCB
Yikun@cns.montana.edu
November 24 2003

Outline
Introduction
Beamforming and its applications
Beamforming antennas vs. omnidirectional antennas

Phased Array Antennas

Direction of arrival (DOA) estimation
Beamforming
Basic configurations: fixed array and adaptive array
smart antenna systems:switched array and adaptive array

Vector Antennas

DOA and polarization

super CART
3-loop and 2-loop vector antenna array
Direction of arrival (DOA) estimation
Vector antenna vs. phased array antenna

Beamforming antennas for WLAN

Infrastructure mode
An indoor WLAN design
Ad hoc mode
Ad hoc WLAN for rural area

Conclusion

Applications of beamforming technology

Applications

Description

RADAR

Phased array RADAR; air traffic control; synthetic

aperture RADAR

SONAR

Source location and classification

Communications
Imaging

Smart antenna systems; Directional transmission and

reception; sector broadcast in satellite communications
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

1
6

Phased array spike sorting

1
5

0.148

0.534
t

1.210

1.210

1
4

0.139

1
3

Rn( 13 t )
0.534

1
2

0.183

0.539
t

1.210

1
0

0.147

Rn( 9 t )
0.534
t

1.2 10

0.147
Rn( 7 t )

Neuronal
spikes
recorded by
electrode
array

1
1

Rn( 11 t )

0.534
t

1.2 10

0.183

0.539
4

1.210

1.210

1.210

Rn( 5 t )

0.139

Rn( 3 t )
0.534

Phased array spike sorting system

Rn( 15 t )

0.14

Rn( 1 t )
0.534
0

Center for Computational Biology, MSU

0.042

Ey 3n ( t )

0.187
0

1.2 10

0.056

Ey 2n ( t )

0.205
0

1.2 10

Sorted
Spike of
individual
neurons.

0.139

Ey 1n( t )

0.544
0

1.210

side view(vertical)

top view(horizontal)

Patterns, beamwidth & Gain

side lobes
Main lobe

nulls

1/ 2
Half-power
beam width

Half-power
beam width
78

Isotropic dipole

half-wave dipole

Half-power
beam width

1/ 2

beamformer

Beamformers vs. omnidirectional antennas

1)

Beamformers have much higher Gain than omnidirectional antennas:

Increase coverage and reduce number of antennas!

GN
N2
Gain:
G1
120

90
6

6
60

4
150

30
2

Field( 6 0 )
Field( 2 0 )
Field( 1 0 )

180

210

330

240

300
270

9.96110

Beamformers vs. omnidirectional antennas

2) Beamformers can reject interference while omnidirectional
antennas cant: Improve SNR and system capacity!

interference
user

null

interference
user

3) Beamformers directionally send down link information to the

users while omnidirectional antennas cant: save energy!

Beamformers vs. omnidirectional antennas

4) Beamformers provide N-fold diversity Gain of omnidirectional antennas:
increase system capacity(SDMA)

5) Beamformers suppress delay spread:improve signal quality

null

user
multipath

user

DOA estimation
Plane wave

N-3

N-2

N-1

k d sin k

phase delay

2d
sin k kd sin k

Beamforming

1,,k

2,,k

3,,k

4,,k

5,,k

6,,k

N-3

N-2

N-1

N-3,,k N-2,,k N-1,,k N,,k

7,,k

phase shifters

N ,k (N 1)(kd sin k )

Basic phased array configurations

sN(k)

y (k )
w*2

s2(k)

s1(k)

w*1

s1(k)

w*2,1

Z-1

w*1,0

Narrowband

.
.
.

Z-1

w*2,0

.
.
.

w*N,1

w*N,k-1

Z-1

.
.
.

s2(k)

.
.
.

w*N,0

Z-1

w*2,k-1

Z-1

w*1,1

.
.
.

w*N

sN(k)

Z-1

w*1,k-1

broadband

phased array (fixed/adaptive) configurations-time domain

y (k )

s2(k)

s1(k)

F
F
T

F
F
T

w*N

.
.
.

.
.
.

w*2

I
F
F
T

d (t )

y (k )

MSE

F
F
T

sN(k)

F
F
T

Basic phased array configurations

w*1

broadband

phased array (fixed/adaptive) configuration-frequency domain

Smart antenna systems

Military
networks
switched array
adaptive array

Cellular
communication
networks
switched array
adaptive array

3G Data rate:100kbps

Wireless
local area
networks
switched array
adaptive array

Wi-Fi Data rate:11Mbps

Smart antenna systems

top view(horizontal)
5

interference
8

16
10

15
11
12

13

14

Switched array (predetermined)

user

Smart antenna systems

top view(horizontal)

Interference 1

user 1

user 2
Interference 2

Adaptive array

Smart antenna system

Example: Vivato 2.4 GHz indoor & outdoor Wi-Fi Switches
(EIRP=44dBm;Gain=25 dBi;3-beam)
In door range
(Mixed Office)

11 Mbps: up to 300m
5.5 Mbps: up to 400m
2 Mbps: up to 500m
1 Mbps: up to 600m

Out door range

(outdoor to indoor)

11 Mbps: up to 1.00km
5.5 Mbps: up to 1.25km
2 Mbps: up to 2.00km
1 Mbps: up to 2.50km

Out door range

(outdoor to outdoor)

11 Mbps: up to 4.20km
5.5 Mbps: up to 5.10km
2 Mbps: up to 6.00km
1 Mbps: up to 7.20km

Active user per switch

100

www.vivato.net

100

12

Polarization
circular

Ei
E i sin e j

ellipse

linear

Z
i

E cos

=90

=45

=0

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

V4

Ve I ( ) Z L

V1

V2

V3
V5
kb0.5

i
I z H 0
i
I y E0

V0e I (0) Z L

2-loop
Blind point

H
S

Steering vector
ey

0
4

ez
hx
h
z

sin 0 cos

sin

sin 0

cos 0

cos 0 cos

Ei0
H

i
0

ex2 ey2 ez2 1

hx2 hy2 hz2 1

sin

sin e j

cos

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 , , , , P

Phased array antennas: spatial ambiguities exist

1
2

f1 sin 1 f2 sin 2

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=412)
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=412)
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.

Low profile antennas with polarization diversity

(a) 2-dipole(monopole)

(b) 2-loop

(c) dipole-loop

Packet switching

AP1

AP2

A
user

Handoff between Aps

was not standardized
at the same time as
802.11b

TDD/TDMA

Packet switching: 3 beam system

top view(horizontal)

Pi 1

Pi 1 Pi 1
Pi

Pi

i
max
1 / d 2 ( / 2), d 1

i
DOA max
d ( / 2),
d 1
i
max 1 / d 2 ( / 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

3
h=30m

2
1
Basement
w=60m
L=100m

An indoor WLAN design

Data rate

1Mbps, 2Mbps, 5.5Mbps, 11Mbps

APs EIEP

44dBm

APs antenna Gain GA

25 dBi

PC antenna Gain GP

0 dBi

Shadowing

8dB

APs antenna receiving sensitivity Smin

-95dBm ,-92dBm, ,-89dBm, -86dBm

APs Noise floor

-178dBm/Hz

Body/orientation loss

2dB

Soft partition attenuate factor (p= number)

p1.39 dB

Concrete-wall attenuate factor(q= number)

q2.38 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 APs antenna is from www.vivato.net

An indoor WLAN design

Mean pathloss with smin:

Allowable pathloss:

L EIRP Smin GP

PLallowable L Lw Lsm Lfl Lsd Lo

Path loss model: PL( r ) PL0 10 log(

r
)
r0

PL(r ) PLal
Case 1: user is on the 3rd floor: 3 concrete walls, 3 soft partitions
The coverage ranges are: r=176m,140m,111m and 88m for date rate at 1Mbps,
2Mbps, 5.5Mbps and 11Mbps respectively .
Case 2: user is in the basement : 3 floors; 2 concrete walls, 3 soft partitions
The coverage ranges are:r=36m,29m,23m and 18m for date rate at 1Mbps, 2Mbps,
5.5Mbps and 11Mbps respectively

Beamforming antennas in ad hoc networks

throughput obtained by each node

new
routing
protocol

P.Gupta and P.R. Kumar,00

W
n log n

new
channel
access
scheme

Beamforming
antennas

Beamforming antennas in ad hoc networks

Z0=50,L/2 Z0=25,L/2
Z0=50

Series resonant patch array

interference
Phased patch
antenna

target

Phased patch array

D.Lu and D.Rutledge,Caltech,02

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.

Channel access
1) traditional exposed node
problem for omnidirectional
antennas
A

RTS

2) Omnidirectional and
directional antennas solve
the exposed node problem
A

RTS

RTS

CTS

CTS
CTS
DATA DATA

DATA

CTS
RTS
CTS

CTS

DATA

The nodes
are
prohibit to
transmit or
receive
signals

DATA

DATA DATA
ACK

Source:Y Ko et al., 00

ACK

The node
is free to
transmit or
receive
signals

ACK

DATA
ACK

The node is
blocked to
communica
te with C

1) No coverage change. May save power.

2) B may not know the location of C.

Channel access
3) beamforming antennas create new problems
A

RTS

RTS
CTS
CTS RTS

RTS

CTS
DATA

DATA

collision

collision

DATA

deaf

Neighbor discovery
Nt

Hello

C
E
D

AP

Neighbors

A
B
C
D
E

B,C
A,C
A,B,E
E
C,D

Ad hoc WLAN for rural area

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