What is explicit beamforming?
Explicit transmit beamforming is an advanced signal-processing technique used in multiple-antenna communications. With this technique, a transmitting access point or router utilizes information about the communication link with wireless client devices to improve signal transmission to those devices. Explicit beamforming provides better reception, range, and throughput while minimizing interference.
Explicit beamforming has existed for some time, but was difficult to use because many manufacturers used different, incompatible versions. IEEE 802.11ac standardizes explicit beamforming technology so that routers, access points, and wireless clients from all conforming manufacturers can use the technology's full capacity.
How does explicit beamforming work?
There are several variations of explicit beamforming. The steps below describe the explicit beamforming procedure used by NETGEAR 802.11ac ProSAFE Wireless Access Points:
- An access point requests channel state information from a wireless client by sending a sequence of known signals.
- The wireless client processes the received signals and transmits them back to the access point.
- The access point or router processes the returned signals and estimates the state of the communication channel, including the relative location of the wireless client.
- The access point uses the estimated channel state information to optimize transmission to the wireless client across multiple transmitting and receiving antennas, maximizing range and throughput.