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LTEQuickReferenceBeamFormingGoBackToIndexHome:www.sharetechnote.com

WhatisBeamForming?Itmeansjustasitsounds.BeamFormingisatechologyto'Form'a'beam'.
Thenwhatdoesitmeanby'beam'inthiscontext?Iwouldsayitmeans'electromagnaticwaveradiation
pattern(propagationpattern)forasetofantennasystem'.Simplyput,BeamFormingisatechnicthatconstuctthe
antennaradationpatternasshownin<Case2>ofthefollowingillustration.

Highlevelmeaningissimplelikethis..butrealimplementationwouldbeverycomplicatedandisoutofmy
understanding.SoIwouldjustgiveyouonlyabigpictureofthistechnology.

Motivation(WhyweneedBeamForming?)

Whyweneedbeamforming?
Itissimple.Let'slookatthetwoillustrationsasshownbelow.Therearetwoantennasystemandlet'sassumethat
thetwoantennaistransmittingtheexactlysameamountoftotalenergy.
Incase1,theantennasystemisradiatingtheenergyinalmostsameamountinalldirection.ThethreeUEsaround
theantennawouldreceivealmostsameamountoftheenergybutalargeportionsofenergynotdirectedtothoseUEs
iswasted.
Incase2,thesignalstrengthoftheradiationpattern('beam')isspecially'formed'insuchawaythattheradiated
energyindirectiontoUEsaremuchstrogerthantheotherpartswhichisnotdirectedtoUEs.

TechnologyforBeamForming

Thereareseveraldifferentwaystoimplementthebeamforming.Followingsarecoupleoftechniquesmostcommonly
used(AsImentioned,thedetailsofimplementationisoutofmyunderstanding).

Foralittlebitfurtherdetails,seeAllBeamformingSolutionsAreNotEqual.ThisismainlyforWLAN,butcanbea
goodintroduction.

SwitchedArrayAntenna:Thisisthetechniquethatchangethebeampattern(radiationform)byswitchingon/off
antennaselectivelyfromthearrayofaantennasystem.

DSPBasedPhaseManipulation:Thisisthetechniquethatchangethebeampattern(radiationform)bychangingthe
phaseofthesignalgoingthrougheachantenna.UsingDSP,youcanchangethesignalphaseforeachantennaport
differentlytoformaspecificbeampatternthatisbestfitforoneormultiplespecificUEs.

BeamformingbyPrecoding:Thisisthetechniquethatchangethebeampattern(radiationform)byapplyingaspecific
precodingmatrix.ThisisthetechniqueusedinLTE.InLTE,followingtransmissionmodeisimplemeting
'BeamForming'implictelyorexplicitely.
TM6Closedloopspatialmultiplexingusingasingletransmissionlayer.
TM7Beamforming(Antennaport5)
TM8DualLayerBeamforming(Antennaports7and8)

BasicConcept:ArrayAntenna

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theta=0.5*pi:pi/100:0.5*pi
d=2.0
a_theta=[e.^(j.*0.*d.*theta)
e.^(j.*1.*d.*theta)
e.^(j.*2.*d.*theta)
e.^(j.*3.*d.*theta)
e.^(j.*4.*d.*theta)
e.^(j.*5.*d.*theta)
e.^(j.*6.*d.*theta)
e.^(j.*7.*d.*theta)]
a_theta_sum=sum(a_theta)
a_theta_sum_abs=abs(a_theta_sum)
a_theta_sum_abs=a_theta_sum_abs./max(a_theta_sum_abs)
subplot(2,2,1)plot(theta,a_theta_sum_abs)
subplot(2,2,2)polar(theta+0.5*pi,a_theta_sum_abs,'r')
subplot(2,2,3)plot(theta,10.*log(a_theta_sum_abs))ylim([301])
subplot(2,2,4)polar(theta+0.5*pi,a_theta_sum_abs,'r')

Bytweakingthephaseofeachantenna,youcancreateabeampointingtomultipledirectionasshownthefollowing
example.

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theta=0.5*pi:pi/100:0.5*pi

d=2.0
theta_shift=(0.5*pi*d)

a_theta=[e.^(j.*0.*d.*theta)
e.^(j.*1.*d.*theta)
e.^(j.*2.*d.*theta)
e.^(j.*3.*d.*theta)
e.^(j.*4.*d.*theta).*e.^(j*theta_shift)
e.^(j.*5.*d.*theta).*e.^(j*theta_shift)
e.^(j.*6.*d.*theta).*e.^(j*theta_shift)
e.^(j.*7.*d.*theta).*e.^(j*theta_shift)]

a_theta_sum=sum(a_theta)
a_theta_sum_abs=abs(a_theta_sum)
a_theta_sum_abs=a_theta_sum_abs./max(a_theta_sum_abs)
subplot(2,2,1)plot(theta,a_theta_sum_abs)
subplot(2,2,2)polar(theta+0.5*pi,a_theta_sum_abs,'r')
subplot(2,2,3)plot(theta,10.*log(a_theta_sum_abs))ylim([301])
subplot(2,2,4)polar(theta+0.5*pi,a_theta_sum_abs,'r')

BasicConcept:BeamForming

BeamforminginLTE

OverallprocedureforLTEbeamforminginthecontextofphysicallayerprocessinggoesasshownbelow.

<PrecodingforBeamForming>

IncaseofBeamForming,PrecodingisdoingalmostnothingandinsteadsomethingsimilartoPrecodinghappensat

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thelaststagelabeledinBF(BeamForming)stage.

BasicBeamformingModelisdescribedin36.101(B.4.1,B.4.2,B.4.3)anditproposethreedifferentcategoriesas
summarizedbelow.

<Singlelayerrandombeamforming(Antennaport5,7,or8):36.101B.4.1>

Thistypehasfollowingtwocases.TM8,DCIFormat2Bsinglelayerwouldfallintothistype.

i)withoutasimultaneoustransmissionontheotherantennaport

ii)withasimultaneoustransmissionontheotherantennaport

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<Duallayerrandombeamforming(antennaports7and8):36.101B.4.2>

TM8,DCIFormat2Bduallayerwouldfallintothistype.

<Genericbeamformingmodel(antennaports714):36.101B.4.3>

TM9,DCIFormat2Cduallayerwouldfallintothistype.

UnlikedothermodellikeB.4.1andB.4.2,thedefinitionofW(i)isnotalwaysobvious.The36.101B.4.3says"The
precodermatrixW(i)isspecifictoatestcase.",itmeanswehavetodefineaspecifictestcase(situation)andthen
trytodefinetheW(i).

Example1:8x2(8Antenna,2Layers)

Inthisexample,Iwilllookintoacasewheretwolayereddataistransmittedthrough8Txantenna.TwoUEspecific
referencesignalp7,p8aresubjecttoBeamFormingand8CSIRSports(p15~p22)willbetransmittedforCSI
estimationonUEside.Overallmappingbetweenantennaportsandphysicalantennaisasshownbelow.

<MappingbetweenAntennaportandphysicalantenna>

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First,itseemsobviousthatweneedsomethingtodistributethetwolayereddataover8physicalantennaanditcan
beeasilyunderstoodthatweneedfollowingformofmatrix.

<BeamformingMatrixconvertingtwouserportsto8physicalantenna>

Nowwehavetofigureout(ordefine)valuesofeachmatrixelement.Forthis,wehavetodefineourmodelmore
specifically.

36.2137.2.4PrecodingMatrixIndicator(PMI)definitionsaysasfollowsandthisexampleisthecasedescribedbythe
underlinedparts.

Fortransmissionmodes4,5and6,precodingfeedbackisusedforchanneldependentcodebookbasedprecodingand
reliesonUEsreportingprecodingmatrixindicator(PMI).Fortransmissionmode8,theUEshallreportPMIif
configuredwithPMI/RIreporting.Fortransmissionmode9,theUEshallreportPMIifconfiguredwithPMI/RIreporting
andthenumberofCSIRSportsislargerthan1.AUEshallreportPMIbasedonthefeedbackmodesdescribedin
7.2.1and7.2.2.Forothertransmissionmodes,PMIreportingisnotsupported

TheexactvalueofthematrixisdeterminedbyUEPMIreportandnetworkconstructthematrixW(i)basedon
followingtable.

36.213Table7.2.42Codebookfor2layerCSIreportingusingantennaports15to22

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Thefirstthingthatconfusesmewas"Whereisi_1andi_2isdefined?"andwhatdotheymean(indicate)?Theseare
describedin36.213section7.2.1"Widebandfeedback>Mode12description"asshownbelow.Ofcourseitwilltake
alongtimetounderstandrealmeaningofthesevariable.(FirstyouhavetounderstandeverythingonCQI/RI
Feedbacktypepagefirstjusttounderstandthesei_1andi_2)

Nowlet'slookintomoredetailsofW(i)matrix.Let'sconstructthegenericformofW(i)matrixforthiscase.The
matrixisdefinedatthebottomofthetableshownabove.
YouwouldnoticethatW(i)ismadeupoffollowingtwocomponents.

WithReferenceto36.2137.2.4

Withthetwocomponents,youcancontructthegenericformofW(i)matrixasshownbelow.Foreachspecificcase,
wehavetofigureoutn,m',ntofilloutthematrixwithspecificvalues.andn,m',nisdeterminedbythePMIreportand
Table7.2.42.

WithReferenceto36.213Table7.2.42

<CSIRSConfiguration>

Asdescribedabove,thekeyissueofBeamformingimplementationishowtofigureoutproperBeamFormingmatrix
foreachtransmission.AsinacommonMIMOtechnology,wecanthinkofroughlyacoupledifferentapproachas
below.
i)OpenLoopMethod:ThisisbasedontheassumptionthataNetwork'SOMEHOW'knowstheproper
beamformingmatrixwithoutanyinformationfromUE.Ideallywecanthinkoftwoapproachesasbelow.

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(Practicallythemethoda)wouldnotbeofmuchmeaning)
a)ApplyingthesameBeamformingmatrixforallthetransmission
b)ApplyingthedynamicallychaningBeamformingmatrixbutnotbasedonspecificUEReport
ii)CloseLoopMethod:ThisisthemethodwhereaNetworkgeneratetheproperbeamformingmatrixbasedon
specificreportfromUE.Forthispurpose,networktransmitaspecificpilotsignalcalled(CSIRS)andUE
evaluatetheit'sreceivingsignalqualitybasedonthereceivedCSIRSandreporttheresulttoNetwork.(Forthe
CSIRSconfigurationbeingusedinLTEforthispurpose,refertoCSIRSandPeriodicitysection)

YouTube :
BeamForming
802.11ac:WhyBeamforming?
DemystifyingBeamformingStevenGlapa,RuckusWireless
AntennaarraypartI
Antennaparameters
VariousformsofAntennaarray

MoreReadings:

Thesearenotmyposting,butIwouldliketorecommendtheseforfurtherunderstandingandgivingyoudifferent
perspective.
AllBeamformingSolutionsAreNotEqual.
SmartAntennasBeamforming
TDLTE8antennadualstreambeamformingtechnology
TrendofMultipleAntennaBeamformingTechnologyinMobileWirelessCommunicationField

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