A Primer on Digital Beamforming

Toby Haynes, Spectrum Signal Processing March 26, 1998

Introduction
Beamforming is the combination of radio signals from a set of small non-directional antennas to simulate a large directional antenna. The simulated antenna can be pointed electronically, although the antenna does not physically move. In communications, beamforming is used to point an antenna at the signal source to reduce interference and improve communication quality. In direction finding applications, beamforming can be used to steer an antenna to determine the direction of the signal source. This introduction to beamforming covers the basic properties of antennas and antenna arrays, then explains how beamformers are built using digital radio hardware and DSPs. Super-resolution direction finding is also explained.

Antennas and Wavelength

An antenna for a radio transmitter converts electrical signals on a cable, from the transmitter, into electromagnetic waves. The antenna consists of electrical conductors (wires, pipes, reflecting surfaces, etc) that create electric and magnetic fields in the space around them. If the fields are changing, they propagate outward through space as an electromagnetic wave at the speed of light. Speed of Light c = 3x108 meters/sec

Any antenna that transmits can also receive. Passing electromagnetic waves excite currents in the antennas conductors. The antenna captures some energy from passing waves and converts it to an electrical signal on the cable. When designing an antenna, its dimensions are specified in terms of the wavelength of the radio signal being transmitted or received. Wavelength is the distance from the beginning of one electromagnetic wave cycle to the next. is wavelength in meters fc is the carrier frequency of the radio signal in Hz c is the speed of light (3x108 meters/sec) Wavelengths For Common Radio Signals Signal AM Radio FM Radio Cellular Telephone Cellular PCS X-Band Radar Frequency 1 MHz 100 MHz 850 MHz 1,800 MHz 10,000 MHz Wavelength 300 meters 3 meters 35 cm 17 cm 3 cm

= c / fc

http://www.spectrumsignal.com

Antenna Radiation Patterns

A transmitting antenna generates stronger electromagnetic waves in some directions than others. A plot of field strength vs. direction is called the antennas radiation pattern. Its always the same for receiving as for transmitting. An electromagnetic wave measured at a point far from the antenna is the sum of the radiation from all parts of the antenna. Each small part of the antenna is radiating waves of a different amplitude and phase, and each of these waves travels a different distance to the point where a receiver is located. In some directions, these waves add constructively to give a gain. In some directions they add destructively to give a loss. A half-wave dipole is a simple antenna that consists of a half wavelength of wire, cut in the center for connection of the cable. The following figure shows its radiation pattern.
Half-Wave Dipole - Field Strength vs. Direction 90 1 120 0.8 60

0.6 150 0.4 30

0.2

180

210

330

240 270

300

Half-Wave Dipole Antenna

Length = / 2

Coax Cable Transmitter

http://www.spectrumsignal.com

Directional Antennas
A directional antenna is one designed to have a gain in one direction and a loss in others. An antenna is made directional by increasing its size. This spreads the radiating conductors of the antenna over a larger distance, so that the constructive and destructive interference can be better controlled to give a directional radiation pattern. A satellite dish antenna can, simplistically, be considered a circular surface that radiates electromagnetic waves equally from all parts. It has a narrow central beam of high gain, as shown in the following figure, that is aimed at the satellite. As the dish diameter, in wavelengths, is increased the central beam gets narrower. Notice the smaller beams, called side lobes, on either side of the central beam. Directions in which the signal strength is zero are called nulls.
3 Wavelength Circular Aperture - Field Strength vs. Direction 90 120 0.8 1 60

0.6 150 0.4 30

0.2

180

210

330

240 270

300

Circular Aperture Antenna

Diameter = 3

Linear Arrays
A simple directional antenna consists of a linear array of small radiating antenna elements, each fed with identical signals (the same amplitude and phase) from one transmitter. As the total width of the array increases, the central beam becomes narrower. As the number of elements increases, the side lobes become smaller. The following figure is the radiation pattern for a line of 4 elements (small antennas) spaced 1/2 wavelength apart.

http://www.spectrumsignal.com

1.5 Wavelength 4 Element Array - Field Strength vs. Direction 90 120 0.8 1 60

0.6 150 0.4 30

0.2

180

210

330

240 270

300

4-Element 1.5 Linear Array

/2 /2 /2 4 Identical Omidirectional Antennas Feed cables are all the same length, so all antennas have the same phase.

Transmitter

If the spacing is increased to more than 1/2 wavelength, large side lobes begin to appear in the radiation pattern. However, the central beam gets narrower because the overall length of the antenna has increased. The following radiation pattern, for 4 elements spaced 1 wavelength apart, illustrates this.

http://www.spectrumsignal.com

3 Wavelength 4 Element Array - Field Strength vs. Direction 90 120 0.8 1 60

0.6 150 0.4 30

0.2

180

210

330

240 270

300

By keeping the overall length the same, and adding elements to reduce the spacing back to 1/2 wavelength, the side lobes are reduced. Following is the radiation pattern if 3 more elements are added to the antenna above to reduce the element spacing.
3 Wavelength 7 Element Array - Field Strength vs. Direction 90 120 0.8 1 60

0.6 150 0.4 30

0.2

180

210

330

240 270

300

http://www.spectrumsignal.com

7-Element 3 Linear Array

/2 /2 /2 /2 /2 /2

Transmitter

Electronically Steered Arrays

By varying the signal phases of the elements in a linear array, its main beam can be steered. The simplest way of controlling signal phase is to systematically vary the cable lengths to the elements. Cables delay the signal and so shift the phase. However, this does not allow the antenna to be dynamically steered. In an electronically steered array, programmable electronic phase shifters are used at each element in the array. The antenna is steered by programming the required phase shift value for each element. The beam pattern below is for an 8-element linear array with a progressive phase shift of 0.7 per element. The central beam has been steered about 45 degrees to the left. A phase shift of 2 corresponds to one wavelength or one carrier wave period, and more positive values are equivalent to saying that the signal is transmitted earlier.

3.5 Wavelength 8 Element Linear Array, Progressive 0.7pi Phase Shift 90 120 0.8 0.6 150 0.4 0.2 30 1 60

180

210

330

240 270

300

http://www.spectrumsignal.com

8-Element 3.5 Linear Array With Progressive Phase Shift of 0.7/Element

/2 /2 /2 /2 /2 /2 /2 Electronic Phase Shifters 0 0.7 1.4 2.1 Power Splitter 2.8 3.5 4.2 4.9

Transmitter

Array Configurations
An antenna array does not need to be linear. Often, antenna elements are arranged in a circle so that the array can form beams equally well in all directions. On vehicles, antenna elements may be placed in any convenient locations and at different heights to form a 3-dimensional array. For these arrays, determining phase shifts to steer the antenna is more complicated than for linear arrays.

Beamforming
In beamforming, both the amplitude and phase of each antenna element are controlled. Combined amplitude and phase control can be used to adjust side lobe levels and steer nulls better than can be achieved by phase control alone. The combined relative amplitude ak and phase shift k for each antenna is called a complex weight and is represented by a complex constant wk (for the kth antenna). A beamformer for a radio transmitter applies the complex weight to the transmit signal (shifts the phase and sets the amplitude) for each element of the antenna array.

http://www.spectrumsignal.com

Transmit Beamformer 2 3

Power Amplifiers

w1
1 a1

w2
2 a2

w3
3 a3

w4
4 a4 Beamformer

Transmit Radio Signal Baseband Signal Modulator Transmitter Carrier Oscillator

A beamformer for radio reception applies the complex weight to the signal from each antenna element, then sums all of the signals into one that has the desired directional pattern. Receive Beamformer 3 4

w1
1 a1

w2
2 a2

w3
3 a3

w4
4 a4 Beamformer

Summation Network (Power Combiner) Beamformer Output (radio signal with directional properties) Radio Receiver

http://www.spectrumsignal.com

Digital Beamforming
In digital beamforming, the operations of phase shifting and amplitude scaling for each antenna element, and summation for receiving, are done digitally. Either general-purpose DSPs or dedicated beamforming chips are used. The rest of this discussion focuses on beamforming receivers. Digital processing requires that the signal from each antenna element is digitized using an A/D converter. Since radio signals above shortwave frequencies (>30 MHz) are too high to be directly digitized at a reasonable cost, digital beamforming receivers use analog RF translators to shift the signal frequency down before the A/D converters. The following figure shows a translator that shifts the entire cellular telephone uplink band at 824-849 MHz down to the 1-26 MHz range.

RF Translator

Bandpass Filter at FRF = 824 - 849 MHz

Local Oscillator at FLO =FRF-FIF = 823 MHz

Mixer (multiplier)

Low Pass Filter Cutoff at FIF_MAX = 26 MHz Intermediate Frequency (IF) output at FIF = FRF - FLO = 1 - 26 MHz Sampling Clock Fs >= 2 FIF_MAX > 52 MHz A/D Converter

Digitized IF to digital down-converter

Once the antenna signals have been digitized, they are passed to digital down-converters that shift the radio channels center frequency down to 0 Hz and pass only the bandwidth required for one channel. The down-converters produce a quadrature baseband output at a low sample rate.

http://www.spectrumsignal.com

Digitized IF from A/D Converter (high sample rate, many radio channels) Digital Down-Converter Cos(2FCt) Sin(2FCt)

Digital Quadrature Local Oscillator at Carrier Frequency FC Low-Pass Decimating Filters with Cutoff = Channel Bandwidth i(t) (in-phase) q(t) (quadrature) Quadrature Baseband Output (one radio channel, low sample rate) The quadrature baseband i and q components can be used to represent a radio signal as a complex vector (phasor) with real and imaginary parts. Two components are required so that both positive and negative frequencies (relative to the channel center frequency) can be represented.

s(t) = x(t) + j y(t)

s(t) is the complex baseband signal x(t) = i(t) is the real part y(t) = -q(t) is the imaginary part j is (-1) For beamforming, the complex baseband signals are multiplied by the complex weights to apply the phase shift and amplitude scaling required for each antenna element.

wk is complex weight for the kth antenna element ak is the relative amplitude of the weight k is the phase shift of the weight A general-purpose DSP can implement the complex multiplication for each antenna element:

wk= ak ejsin(k) wk= ak cos(k) + j ak sin(k)

sk(t) wk = ak{ [xk(t) cos(k) - yk(t) sin(k)] + j [xk(t) sin(k) + yk(t) cos(k)] }

http://www.spectrumsignal.com

10

Complex Multiplier xk(t) = ik(t) ak cos(k) Real part of sk(t)wk

Complex baseband signal from kth antenna sk(t)

ak sin(k)

To summation at beamformer output.

-ak sin(k) yk(t) = -qk(t) ak cos(k)

Imaginary part of

Complex Weight wk

The following figure shows a complete digital beamforming receiver. One set of antenna elements, RF translators, and A/D converters can be shared by a number of beamformers. All RF translators and A/D converters share common oscillators so that they all produce identical phase shifts of the signal. Within the digital beamformer, all digital down-converters share a common clock, are set for the same center frequency and bandwidth, and their digital local oscillators are in-phase so that all phase shifts are identical. Each DDCs baseband output is multipled by the complex weight for its antenna element, and the results are summed to produce one baseband signal with directional properties. A demodulator would then follow to recover information from the radio signal.

http://www.spectrumsignal.com

11

1 Shared Local Oscillator Shared Sampling Clock

Digital Beamforming Receiver 2 3

RF Translator

RF Translator

RF Translator

RF Translator

A/D

A/D

A/D

A/D

Digital DownConverter s1(t) w1 w2

Digital DownConverter s2(t) w3

Digital DownConverter s3(t) w4

Digital DownConverter s4(t)

To Other Beamformers

Digital Beamformer s(t)w Beamformers complex baseband output to demodulator

Adaptive Beamforming
The complex weights wk for the antenna elements are carefully chosen to give the desired peaks and nulls in the radiation pattern of the antenna array. In a simple case, the weights may be chosen to give one central beam in some direction, as in a direction-finding application. The weights could then be slowly changed to steer the beam until maximum signal strength occurs and the direction to the signal source is found. In beamforming for communications, the weights are chosen to give a radiation pattern that maximizes the quality of the received signal. Usually, a peak in the pattern is pointed to the signal source and nulls are created in the directions of interfering sources and signal reflections. Adaptive Beamforming is the process of altering the complex weights on-the-fly to maximize the quality of the communication channel. Here are some commonly used methods: Minimum Mean-Square Error The shape of the desired received signal waveform is known by the receiver. Complex weights are adjusted to minimize the mean-square error between the beamformer output and the expected signal waveform. Maximum Signal-to-Interference Ratio Where the receiver can estimate the strengths of the desired signal and of an interfering signal, weights are adjusted to maximize the ratio. Minimum Variance When the signal shape and source direction are both known, chose the weights to minimize the noise on the beamformer output.

http://www.spectrumsignal.com

12

Often, constraints are placed on the adaptive beamformer so that the complex weights do not vary randomly in poor signal conditions. Some radio signals include training sequences so that an adaptive beamformer may quickly optimize its radiation pattern before the useful information is transmitted.

Smart Antennas
Adaptive beamforming systems for communications are sometimes referred to as smart antenna systems. For cellular telephone, one base station with a smart antenna system can support more than one user on the same frequency, as long as they are in different directions, by steering individual antenna beams at each user. This is sometimes called spatial domain multiple access (SDMA). Its estimated that the capacity of cellular telephone systems can be doubled by using smart antennas.

FFTs in Beamforming
In digital beamforming, many beamformers can share one set of antenna elements, rf translators, and A/D converters. The beamformers may have their central beams pointed in different directions. In situations where a fixed set of non-overlapping beams must be formed simultaneously (radar, sonar, direction-finding) an FFT can implement many beamformers efficiently. The following figure shows an FFT beamformer with N antenna elements. Each element requires a digital down-converter. All DDCs produce a baseband sample simultaneously, and all of these are passed at once to an N-point complex FFT. The FFT then produces a set of N complex outputs, each of which is the next baseband sample for a different beam. FFT Beamforming 1 2 Shared Local Oscillator Shared Sampling Clock

RF Translator

RF Translator

RF Translator

A/D Digital DownConverter s1(t)

A/D Digital DownConverter s2(t) N-Point Complex FFT

A/D Digital DownConverter sN(t)

Beam 1 Beam 2 Beam N Complex baseband outputs, N beams

In this case, a spatial FFT is being performed: The FFT is processing a set of samples that are separated in space (not in time). Therefore, its outputs are a set of samples that are separated in direction (not in frequency). FFT beamforming as shown above is not flexible. For a linear array, the N beams are fixed and equally spaced in direction. They range from -90 to +90 degrees from broadside of the array. The beams are orthogonal: the central peak of any beam lies in a null on all other beams. Such a set of beams is useful for radar mapping, but not very useful for communications.

http://www.spectrumsignal.com

13

It is possible to use FFTs for beamforming in communications. A set of FFT outputs can be combined, using complex weights and sums as before, to form arbitrary radiation patterns. This is called beam-space beamforming. The previous approach of combining baseband signals from different antenna elements is called element-space beamforming.

Super-Resolution Direction Finding

The term super-resolution applies to the ability to measure the angle of arrival of a radio signal with much higher resolution than the beam width of the antenna array. The method requires accurately measuring the phases of the signals from the array elements and, from these, calculating the angle of arrival.

Angle of Arrival Wavefront

l Path Difference 1 d Antenna Spacing 2

A wavefront from direction arrives at antenna 1 first. Then, after travelling an additional path distance l it arrives at antenna 2.

l = d sin
The pah difference results in a phase difference between the signals from the two antennas:

= 2 l / = 2 d sin /
A direction-finding system calculates the angle of arrival from the phase difference:

= sin-1 ( / (2 d) )
For a super-resolution result to be accurate, the arriving wave must be a direct signal from the source - a plane wave with a straight wavefront. Signal reflections (multipath) and interfering signals cause superresolution systems to fail. A super-resolution system cannot operate if two or more signal sources share the same frequency, since the receivers output phase no longer reflects the phase of an incoming plane wave. Beamforming can be used for direction finding by rotating the central beam of an array to give maximum received signal strength. With this method, the angular resolution is limited by the beam width produced by the beamformer. Also, false measurements will occur if a side lobe is mistakenly steered to the signal source, instead of the arrays central lobe. However, it is possible to measure the directions of multiple sources and to identify the directions of reflections with a beamforming system. For two antenna elements spaced at 4 wavelengths, the following diagram shows the radiation pattern that a beamformer would produce. The main drawback of the beamforming approach - many side lobes unless

http://www.spectrumsignal.com

14

many antenna elements are used - is apparent. A super-resolution system using the same two antennas could measure direction accurately, provided that the only an undistorted plane wave is arriving.

4 Wavelength 2 Element Array - Field Strength vs. Direction 90 120 0.8 1 60

0.6 150 0.4 30

0.2

180

210

330

240 270

300

References
John Litva and Titus Kwok-Yeung Lo, Digital Beamforming in Wireless Communications, Artech House, Norwood, MA, 1996. Warren L. Stutzman and Gary A. Thiele, Antenna Theory and Design, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1981.

http://www.spectrumsignal.com

15