Achieving 360° Coverage Dynamic and Switchable Beamforming Through Resource-Efficient Switchable Antennas for Future mmWave IoT Devices

In spite of recent advancements in millimeterwave (mmWave) communication technologies, the limited beamforming coverage due to the high propagation loss remains a critical impediment to Internet of Things (IoT) hand-held applications. This article introduces the concept of dynamic beam shaping consisting of resource-efficient beamforming algorithm associated with switchable antenna system configurations. The ability to control and modify the beam direction, polarization, and beam width is confirmed to be highly instrumental in ensuring an uncorrupted, spherical wireless coverage of 60 GHz Wi-Fi featuring multigigabit data rates. Empirical studies ascertain that the presented beamforming algorithm and cross-layer hardware design can globally search optimal beams with more than 90 % hit ratio. To the author's best knowledge this work is the first to successfully demonstrate the applicability of 60 GHz-based mmWave Wi-Fi for various IoT user scenarios such as 4 K ultra high definition and 720p high definition streaming investigated under real-life scenarios.

Automated summary

This article introduces the concept of dynamic beam shaping, which combines resource-efficient beamforming algorithm and switchable antenna system configurations to control and modify beam direction, polarization, and beam width for ensuring uncorrupted, spherical wireless coverage of 60 GHz Wi-Fi. Empirical studies confirm that the presented beamforming algorithm and cross-layer hardware design can globally search optimal beams with over 90% hit ratio.