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May 2007

Beamforming Approaches for Mobile WiMAX

Abstract:

According to the WiMAX Forum white paper “A Comparative Analysis of Mobile WiMAX
Deployment Alternatives1”, which discusses the different deployment alternative supported by Mobile
WiMAX under “Wave 2”, beamforming demonstrates significant improvements in coverage, due to the
link budget improvements of beamforming, and also in capacity, due to the improvements in signal
strength and reduction in noise (interference).

There are multiple approaches to using beamforming to improve the coverage and capacity of cellular
wireless networks, all of which can be adapted for use with Mobile WiMAX (802.16e-2005). However,
not all approaches have the same effectiveness. The optimal theoretical approach uses adaptive
beamforming. Other approaches are less complex to develop, but also offer smaller gains.

Authors:
Paul Sergeant (Director, Strategic Marketing, Navini Networks)
Hang Jin (Senior Manager, Systems Group, Navini Networks)
Mehul Patel (Sales Engineer, Navini Networks)

1
Doug Gray, published May 2007 by the WiMAX Forum
May 2007

What is Beamforming?

Beamforming is the generic name for the type of RF radiation pattern generated by Smart Antennas, also
called Advanced Antenna Systems (AAS). Beams formed by AAS systems provide much greater
directionality than simple sectorized cellular base stations, which radiate equally in all directions. The
RF energy directed other than at the subscriber is wasted, and worse still, adds to the interference level
perceived by all the other users.

Beamforming seeks to maximize the efficiency of the airlink by directing the downlink energy towards
the end user, and not at other users, which increases the signal, and reduces the interference noise. The
most advanced beamforming systems actively null the noise levels for all users, and take into account
multipath.

Three Approaches to Beamforming

1) Switched Lobe Antenna - Multiple stationary beams

The switched lobe antenna is the simplest form of AAS. A single sector uses multiple small “micro-sub-
sectors”, each of which extends the range of the sector by a specific antenna gain. The beams are all
fixed, and do not move. The sector logic decides which sub-sector is the best one to use, and selects that
beam for the downlink. The usual basis for determining the best sub-sector to use for the downlink is to
use the one that received the maximum received power for the uplink.

The Switched Lobe antenna has the advantage that it is cheap and easy to install, but has the worst
performance of the methods, and is susceptible to multipath interference at the subscriber station. It is
also not well suited for mobility.

2) Dynamically Phased Array - Beam Steering/Beam Switching

The Dynamically Phased Array is an improved form of the switched lobe antenna. Like the switched
lobe antenna, a single sector uses multiple small “micro-sub-sectors”, each of which extends the range
of the sector by a specific antenna gain. The beams are all fixed, and do not move.

Where the Dynamically Phased Array improves on the static version, is that it includes in it’s algorithm
a calculation based on angle of arrival of the uplink signal, allowing for better mobility. As a subscriber
modem is seen to move, the algorithm selects which sub-sector to use for the downlink, usually based on
the receive uplink power level.

3) Adaptive Array - Adaptive Beamforming

The Adaptive Array is an advanced antenna that offers the best theoretical performance, and has the
advantage of offering excellent support for mobile applications. The system “sounds” using the uplink,
and identifies all possible paths to the subscriber device taking into account spatial diversity. It does this
through direction-of-arrival (DOA) algorithms, which also identify the location of potential interferers
May 2007

(other subscribers). The downlink beam is then formed re-using all the multipaths seen on the uplink,
while nulling out interferers. The result is a received signal at the subscriber station with maximum
signal strength, and minimal interference (SNR ratio).

The Adaptive Array offers the best possible performance, but requires the most processing at the base
station or on the antenna, if self contained. Until recently, the cost of this processing was prohibitive
except for military applications, however the recent exponential drop in the cost of processing power
(thanks to Moore’s Law), has made adaptive arrays practical and cost effective for cellular-like
deployments in commercial systems.

Sw itched Lobe Sm art A ntenna


Cheap, bu t inflex ib le, U ses m u ltip le sm all,
im m ob ile “sub sectors”. B ase Station selects
w hich sub sector to use based on strong est sig nal
received. S uffers from lim ited gain.

D ynam ically Phased A rray /B eam S teering


U ses m ultip le sm all, im m ob ile “sub sectors”. B ase
Station selects w hich sub sector to use based ang le
of arrival, and steers beam . Suffers from m u ltipath
interference.
e
er at h
nc
re
Int lt ip
fe
u
M

A dap tive A ntenna A rray


Best perform ance, bu t m ore costly. S ystem
m easures ang le, p hase and streng th of arrival from
up link sou nd ing. U ses resu lts to send d ow nlink
using all availab le m u ltip aths to add constru ctively
at the source.

Figure 1 The Three Approaches to Beamforming


May 2007

Implications for RF planners

Smart antenna systems offer several benefits for RF planners. All types offer increased useable range
(coverage), and increased throughput (capacity) compared with non-beamforming systems. The benefits
increase with the complexity of the beamforming system, as does the equipment cost. With recent drops
in the price of processors, and advances in antenna design, the most effective adaptive arrays now offer
coverage and capacity benefits that greatly exceed the cost of their added complexity.

Smart antenna systems (if deployed correctly) can reduce the cost of spectrum by permitting much
tighter spectrum re-use. Where as non-beamforming systems are usually designed with N=4 or N=7
reuse, smart antennas allow the use of N=3 or even N=1 (adaptive arrays only).

Figure 2 Improved Spectral Re-use with Smart Antennas

The Navini approach

Navini Networks has shipped over 1,500 base stations for commercial application since 2003. Navini
uses exclusively Adaptive Array smart antennas, where the adaptive algorithms are deeply integrated
inside the Ripwave base station. This reduces the cost of processing, and permits the use of small tower
top units for simple analog RF.

Navini typically experiences more than 18db of downlink beamforming gain, and also gets 9db of uplink
gain through the use of 8 carefully spaced elements in a Linear Equidistant Array. The result is that
Navini systems are designed with N=3 spectral re-use (N=1 expected in 2008), have much greater range
than competing simple systems, (leading to more than 50% reduction in cell count), and offer much
higher capacity (as much as twice that of other, similar systems lacking beamforming).

A side effect is that Navini’s subscriber modems are able to use lower uplink power, which reduces their
size and cost, and makes them easily portable.

Some other vendors have attempted to cast doubt on the real world performance of beamforming,
however their prior experience has been with beam steering systems. The performance of beam steering
systems does not predict the performance of adaptive arrays. Navini’s adaptive arrays are commercially
deployed, and their real world performance is well understood.
May 2007

Effect of Beamforming on Mobile WiMAX Networks

Using simulations based on test results and real world commercial experience with beamformed wireless
broadband systems, Navini has found that the benefits of beamforming in a WiMAX network go well
beyond the expected coverage gains to include impressive gains in capacity too.

In the case of a standard mobile WiMAX wave 1 “SISO2” network, adding beamforming gain almost
doubles the sector and system capacity. When applied to a Mobile WiMAX Wave 2 “MIMO3” system,
adding beamforming has similar effect, adding close to 90% capacity gain over just MIMO alone.

“SISO” systems use only one antenna on a modem (or “CPE”) device. Beamforming increases the
capacity by increasing the signal to noise ratio experienced by the modem, usually by close to 100 times.
The result is that the modem is able to use higher order modulations such as 64 QAM4, instead of lower
order modulations such as QPSK, which enables much higher data throughput on both the downlink and
the uplink.

“MIMO” system use two antennas on a modem device, and allow the use of two simultaneous data
paths, in theory enabling the downlink speed to double. In practice, only a small percentage of modems
in a cell experience good enough radio conditions to reliably decode a MIMO signal, so the system
capacity gain is much less than twice that of SISO. By applying beamforming to a MIMO signal,
Navini has found that not only do modems experience improved signal to noise ratio and faster
modulations, but the MIMO signal becomes useable by a much larger percentage of the modems in that
cells coverage area. The result is impressive gains in overall system throughput, as well as individually
faster connections.

As expected, the beamforming systems also allowed the use of much larger cell sizes, reducing the
number of cell sites need to cover an area by more than 50%. Although beamforming base station
systems are more expensive individually than non-beamforming base stations, the extra cost is more
than made up by the reduction in cell site construction and leasing costs, backhaul deployment, and on
going maintenance. A further benefit is that the beams provide the extra power needed for effective
building penetration for indoor data use.

Sources:

1) A Comparative Analysis of Mobile WiMAX Deployment Alternatives – The WiMAX Form (not
yet published) – (Doug Gray)
2) An Overview Of Smart Antenna Technology For Mobile Communications Systems – IEEE
Fourth Quarter 1999, vol. 2 no. 4 (Per Lehne & Magne Pettersen)
3) Navini RF planning guide

2
SISO – Single input, single output
3
MIMO – Multiple input, multiple output
4
QAM – quadrature amplitude modulation

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