Enhancing 802.11n Physical LayerUsing Beamforming

Abstract

Beamforming in general is a signal processing technique used in sensor arrays for directional signal transmission or reception. This is achieved by combining elements in a phased array in such a way that signals at particular angles experience constructive interference while others experience destructive interference.Such technologyis specified in the IEEE 802.11n specification and takes advantage of the multiple transmit antennas available in a multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) system. Since the 802.11n suffers a lot of interference sources which decrease the signal to noise and interference ratio (SNIR) and also due to the fading and multipath problems, adaptive beamforming algorithms can stand out as an efficient solution to the above problems. In this thesis MATLAB software was used to design a graphical user interface to test the performance oftwo types of adaptive beamforming algorithms;the Blind approach and the Non-Blind approach. The algorithm that resulted in a better performance was simulated in the 802.11n system using MATLAB SIMULINK.The results showed that adding beamforming techniques improve the performance of the system.