Automatic Analog Beamforming Transceiver for 60 GHz Radios

TL;DR

This paper introduces an automatic beamforming transceiver architecture for 60 GHz radios that enables rapid, sub-5 microsecond setup of high-speed wireless links without complex digital algorithms.

Contribution

It presents a retro-directive transceiver design that simplifies and accelerates beam alignment for millimeter wave communication systems.

Findings

Simulated setup time <5 microseconds for 2 Gbps link

Achieves rapid beam alignment without digital search algorithms

Supports 4-element antenna arrays with QPSK modulation

Abstract

We propose a transceiver architecture for automatic beamforming and instantaneous setup of a multigigabit-per-second wireless link between two millimeter wave radios. The retro-directive architecture eliminates necessity of slow and complex digital algorithms required for searching and tracking the directions of opposite end radios. Simulations predict <5 micro-seconds setup time for a 2-Gbps bidirectional 60-GHz communication link between two 10-meters apart radios. The radios have 4-element arrayed antennas, and use QPSK modulation with 1.5 GHz analog bandwidth.