Method and apparatus for combined adaptive beamforming and MIMO in indoor wireless LAN

摘要

A wireless local area network (WLAN) device comprising a processor, a transceiver coupled to the processor, a switching mechanism coupled to the transceiver, a beamforming antenna assembly coupled to the switching mechanism, and a multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) antenna assembly coupled to the switching mechanism. Included is an apparatus comprising a processor and a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory comprises instructions that cause the processor to calibrate a WLAN device, select an optimal antenna configuration, track the WLAN device performance, and wait for a triggering event. Also included is an adaptive antenna method comprising calibrating a WLAN device, selecting an optimal antenna configuration, tracking the WLAN device performance, and waiting for a triggering event.

主权项

1. A wireless local area network (WLAN) device comprising:
a processor; a transceiver coupled to the processor; a switching mechanism coupled to the transceiver; a beamforming antenna assembly coupled to the switching mechanism through a first electrical connection; and a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna assembly coupled to the switching mechanism through a second electrical connection different than the first electrical connection, wherein the processor is configured to calibrate the WLAN device by selecting a frequency spectrum band and a frequency bandwidth, implementing a plurality of directional antenna radio frequency (RF) beams and measuring a power spectrum for a client for each of the directional antenna RF beams, and performing a statistical analysis on the power spectrum of the client, wherein the switching mechanism is configured to activate antennas within the beamforming antenna assembly, or the MIMO antenna assembly, but not both the beamforming antenna assembly and the MIMO antenna assembly at the same time, and wherein the processor is configured to repeatedly track the WLAN device performance for one or more antenna configurations and for one or more clients to generate alternative antenna configurations that may be selected, wherein tracking the WLAN device performance comprises performing a statistical analysis on the power spectrum of the client, wherein the statistical analysis uses an average or variance computation.