Wideband multibeam formation using fully spatial signal processing for indoor communications

Abstract

Recently, an outstanding wideband beamformer utilizing only space domain, not time or frequency domain, has been proposed, so-called wideband spatial beamformer. The advantage of this beamformer is that it requires only attenuators or amplifiers to perform beam formation in wide frequency band as its weighting coefficients become real values. As a result, tapped delay lines, frequency filters, or phase shifters are avoidable. This article presents an extension work for the mentioned wideband spatial beamformer. The beamforming algorithm is modified to produce multibeam patterns with one set of real-valued weights for the purpose of energy saving. The proposed concept is tested through simulated and measured results to confirm beamforming capability.