IBeam: Intelligent client-side multi-user beamforming in wireless networks

Yongjiu Du, Ehsan Aryafar, Joseph Camp, Mung Chiang

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

Frequently, client-side wireless devices have a view of multiple WiFi access points, whether from open residential and commercial networks, corporate networks, or mesh networks. Given the increasing number of radios and antennas in today's wireless devices, residual capacity from these multiple APs could be leveraged if client devices communicate with multiple APs simultaneously. In this paper, we exploit multi-user multi-input multi-output (MU-MIMO) technology to improve throughput and reliability in both directions of a wireless connection. For uplink, we use multi-user beamforming to enable the client devices to send multiple data streams to multiple APs simultaneously. For downlink, we leverage interference nulling technology to allow the client devices to decode parallel packets from multiple APs. This iBeam system requires no changes to existing APs or backhaul networks and is compatible with the IEEE 802.11 standards. We experimentally evaluate iBeam and show significant throughput improvements over both single-AP connections and multi-AP connections in a time division mode. The client's reliability and stability are also significantly improved due to the multi-AP diversity gain.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationIEEE INFOCOM 2014 - IEEE Conference on Computer Communications
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages817-825
Number of pages9
ISBN (Print)9781479933600
DOIs
StatePublished - 2014
Event33rd IEEE Conference on Computer Communications, IEEE INFOCOM 2014 - Toronto, ON, Canada
Duration: Apr 27 2014May 2 2014

Publication series

NameProceedings - IEEE INFOCOM
ISSN (Print)0743-166X

Other

Other33rd IEEE Conference on Computer Communications, IEEE INFOCOM 2014
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityToronto, ON
Period4/27/145/2/14

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Computer Science
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Keywords

  • Beamforming
  • Channel Reciprocity
  • Interference Nulling
  • Multi-AP
  • Multi-user
  • Rate Adaptation
  • WiFi Networks

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