Recent Advances in Electronics and Communication Technologies (RAECT-2011)

4-5 March, 2011

SMART ANTENNAS-A VISION OF FUTURE

Abstract The technology of smart or adaptive antennas for mobile communications has received enormous interest worldwide in recent years. The purpose of this paper on SMART ANTENNAS is to give an overview of the technology and of the different ways in which it is foreseen to influence mobile communications systems.The paper starts with an explanation of the basic principles of smart antennas. Different levels of intelligence are introduced, ranging from simple switching between predefined beams to optimum beamforming. Other advantages include increased range and the potential to introduce new service Adaptive or "smart" antenna arrays can increase channel capacity through spatial division. Adaptive antennas can also track mobile users, improving both signal range and quality. For these reasons, smart antenna systems have attracted widespread interest in the telecommunications industry for applications to third generation wireless systems. The problems in 3G systems can be effectively tackled by using smart antennas. Some of the benefits that can be achieved by using SAS (Smart Antenna System) include lower mobile terminal power consumption, range extension, ISI reduction, higher data rate support, and ease of integration into the existing base station system. In terms of economic benefits, adaptive antenna systems employed at base station, though increases the per base station cost, can increase coverage area of each cell site, thereby reducing the total system cost dramatically - often by more than 50% without compromising the system performance. Major drawbacks and cost factors include increased transceiver complexity and more complex radio resource management. Keywords Smart antenna, adaptive array, beamforming, direction of arrival (DOA).

Television and radio broadcasts as we know them use a traditional system of communication: One antenna transmits a signal and a second antenna receives it. This configuration is called single-input, single-output (SISO). Many wireless systems today use the same basic design: one antenna at the access point transmits and another, in a notebook computer or other device, receives the data. New radio technologies are increasingly examining designs in which transmission and reception use multiple antennas at both ends of the communication. This approach is called multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO), and it is shown in Figure. To handle multiple signals, these MIMO systems need greater smarts than simple SISO configurations. As a result, these multiple antenna systems are referred to as smart antenna systems.

I.

INTRODUCTION

Smart antennas are antenna arrays with smart signal processing algorithms used to identify spatial signal signature such as the direction of arrival (DOA) of the signal, and use it to calculate beamforming vectors, to track and locate the antenna beam on the mobile/target. As the available broadcast spectrum is limited, attempts to increase traffic within a fixed bandwidth create more interference in the system and degrade the signal quality. In particular, when omni-directional antennas are used at the base station, the transmission/reception of each users signal becomes a source of interference to other users located in the same cell, making the overall system interference limited. An effective way to reduce this type of interference is to split up the cell into multiple sectors and use sectorized antennas, as shown in Figure.

The basic principle of smart antennas is that each antenna receives a separate and distinct signal. Depending on how the wireless system is set up, the receiver might combine the signals from multiple signals to improve the quality of data reception; or it might extract multiple data streams to increase bandwidth.

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Recent Advances in Electronics and Communication Technologies (RAECT-2011) II. HISTORY

4-5 March, 2011

The core algorithm of Smart antenna is adaptive beamforming antenna technology which has been developed at 1960s, used in radar antenna array, in order to enhance the performance of radar and electronic warfare capabilities. In the mid-1990s, smart antenna technology began to be considered in wireless communication systems. Firstly United States corp. Arraycom implemented the smart antenna in the Time Division Multiple Access PHS system. In 1997, Beijing Xinwei Telecom Technology Co., Ltd. Which companies from China Ministry of Information Industry Academy of Telecommunications Technology has successfully development SCDMA wireless subscriber loop System based on smart antenna technology, In addition, a large number of universities and research institutions of china and other country have begun to carry out a wide range of smart antenna beamforming algorithm. In year 1998, China submitted TD-SCDMA RTT proposal to the ITU's, which is the CDMA communication system first time based on smart antenna technology. III. THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF SMART ANTENNAS TECHNOLOGY The basic principle of smart antennas is that each antenna receives a separate and distinct signal. Depending on how the wireless system is set up, the receiver might combine the signals from multiple signals to improve the quality of data reception; or it might extract multiple data streams to increase bandwidth.Smart antennas technology is to make a set of antenna elements arranged in certain shape, the signal incentive into corresponding transceiver, based on wave interference principle, we can have a strong directional radiation pattern. If using base band digital signal processing methods, making the radiation pattern of the main valve to adaptive point to the users direction of arrival (DOA), we can enhance the signal to interference rate (SNR), reduce the transmitting power and increase the coverage of the wireless system.

The smart antenna element is usually offset by a straight line, circle or isometric plane order. Each element is Omni-directional antenna. When the mobile station is far enough away from the antenna, the actual incidence of the signals can be considered as coming from same direction. IV. SMART ANTENNAS TECHNOLOGY COMPONENTS

Smart Antenna System includes the following main components: Smart antenna array Front-end modules of RF Unit (including linear power amplifiers, low noise and control / monitoring circuit) RF band pass filter Cable systems (RF cables, Control cables, RF lightning protection modules, low-frequency lightning protection circuit).

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Recent Advances in Electronics and Communication Technologies (RAECT-2011)

4-5 March, 2011

If we choose a different 0, the point direction of beamforming will be changed, So we can change the array weights value in order to choose the right directionIt is easy to waste time searching for a single technology
V. MILESTONES OF TECHONOLOGY

Smart antennas have two main functions: DOA estimation and Beamforming.
A. Direction of arrival (DOA) estimation The smart antenna system estimates the direction of arrival of the signal, using techniques such as MUSIC (Multiple Signal Classification), estimation of signal parameters via rotational invariance techniques (ESPRIT) algorithms, Matrix Pencil method or one of their derivatives. They involve finding a spatial spectrum of the antenna/sensor array, and calculating the DOA from the peaks of this spectrum. These calculations are computationally intensive. Matrix Pencil is very efficient in case of real time systems, and under the correlated sources. B. Beamforming Beamforming is the method used to create the radiation pattern of the antenna array by adding constructively the phases of the signals in the direction of the targets/mobiles desired, and nulling the pattern of the targets/mobiles that are undesired/interfering targets. This can be done with a simple FIR tapped delay line filter. The weights of the FIR filter may also be changed adaptively, and used to provide optimal beamforming, in the sense that it reduces the MMSE between the desired and actual beam pattern formed. Typical algorithms are the steepest descent, and LMS algorithms.

Figure 1: Structure diagram of Smart Antenna

If antenna arrays include M elements that arranged in a straight line and equidistant distance, then the distance difference between the incidents is d = m x cos, the phase difference of time-domain incident is (2 pi/) d.

Figure 2: Received signal of Smart antenna

Therefore the space arrived distance difference led to the receiving signals at different phase for each element. After multiply by weighted array, the output signals are as follows:

VI. TYPES OF SMART ANTENNAS Two of the main types of smart antennas include: A. Switched beam smart antennas B. Adaptive array smart antennas.

Where A is the constant signal amplitude, s(t) is the complex envelope of the signal and wm is the array weights. Assuming that the weighted factor of m - array element is

According to the superposition of the sine wave result, then:

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Recent Advances in Electronics and Communication Technologies (RAECT-2011)

4-5 March, 2011

increase in network capacity when compared with a traditional omnidirectional antenna system or sector based systems. In this approach, the antenna array develops overlapping beams which covers the surrounding area. When an incoming signal is detected, the base station determines the beam that is best aligned in the signal of interest direction and then switches to that beam to communicate to the user. The adaptive array system is the smarter of the two approaches. This system tracks the mobile user continuously by steering the main beam towards the user and at the same time forming nulls in the direction of the interfering signal. If the complex weights are selected from a library of weights that form beams in specific, predetermined directions, the process is called switched beamforming. Here, the base station basically switches between the different beams based on the received signal strength measurements. On the other hand, if the weights are computed and adaptively updated in real time, the process is called adaptive beamforming. Through adaptive beamforming, the base station can form narrower beams towards the desired user and nulls towards interfering users, considerably improving the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio. B. Adaptive algorithms classifications The adaptive algorithms can be classified into categories based on different approaches: Based on adaptation:

Switched beam systems have several available fixed beam patterns. A decision is made as to which beam to access, at any given point in time, based upon the requirements of the system. Adaptive arrays allow the antenna to steer the beam to any direction of interest while simultaneously nulling interfering signals. Beam direction can be estimated using the so-called direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation methods. VII. SMART ANTENNA TECHNOLOGYBEAMFORMING Smart antenna technology offers a significantly improved solution to reduce interference levels and improve the system capacity. With this technology, each users signal is transmitted and received by the base station only in the direction of that particular user. This drastically reduces the overall interference in the system. A smart antenna system, as shown in Figure 2, consists of an array of antennas that together direct different transmission/reception beams toward each user in the system. This method of transmission and reception is called beamforming and is made possible through smart (advanced) signal processing at the baseband.

1) Continuous adaptation: Algorithms based upon this approach adjusts the weight as the incoming data is sampled and keep updating it such that it converges to an optimal solution. This approach is suitable when the signal statistics are time-varying. Examples: The Least Mean Square algorithm (LMS) and RLS algorithm. 2) Block adaptation: The algorithms based on this adaptation method computes the weights on the estimates obtained from the temporal block of the data. This method can be used in a non-stationary environment provided the weights are computed periodically. Example: The Sample Matrix Inversion algorithm(SMI).

Figure 3 . Smart Antenna SystemBeamforming

Based on information required In beamforming, each users signal is multiplied with complex weights that adjust the magnitude and phase of the signal to and from each antenna. This causes the output from the array of antennas to form a transmit/receive beam in the desired direction and minimizes the output in other directions. A. Switched and Adaptive Beamforming The switched beam approach is simpler as compared to the fully adaptive approach. It provides a considerable Examples: The Least Mean Square algorithm (LMS) and RMS algorithm ,and Sample matrix inversion algorithm. 1) Reference signal based algorithms: These types of algorithms are based upon minimization of the mean square error between the received signal and the reference signal. Therefore it is required that a reference signal be available which has high correlation with the desired signal.

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Recent Advances in Electronics and Communication Technologies (RAECT-2011) 2) Blind adaptive algorithms: These algorithms do not require any reference signal information. They themselves generate the required reference signal from the received signal to get the desired signal. Examples: The Constant Modulus algorithm (CMA),the Cyclostationary algorithm ,and the Decision directed algorithm. C. Comparison of switched and adaptive beamforming 1) Switched Beam system It uses multiple fixed directional beams with narrow beamwidths. The required phase shifts are provided by simple fixed phase shifting network. They do not require complex algorithm, simple algorithms are required for beam selection. It requires only moderate interaction between mobile unit and base station as compared to adaptive array system. Since low technology is used, it has lesser cost and complexity. Integration into existing cellular system is easy and cheap. It provides significant increase in coverage and capacity as compared with conventional antenna based systems. Since multiple narrow beams are used, frequent intracell hand-offs between beams have to be handled as mobile moves from one beam to another. It cannot distinguish between direct signal and interfering and multipath signals, this leading to unwanted enhancement of the interfering signal more than the desired signal. Since there is no null steering involved, switched beam systems offers limited co-channel interference suppression as compared to the adaptive array system. 2) Adaptive array system It steers the beams towards the desired signal of interest and places nulls at the interfering signal direction It requires implementation of the DSP technology. It requires complicated adaptive algorithms to steer the beam and the nulls. It has better interference rejection capability. It is not easy to implement in the existing systems. A continuous steering of beam is required as the mobile moves, high interaction between mobile unit and base station is required. Since the beam continuously follows the user, intra cell hand-offs are less.

4-5 March, 2011

It provides better coverage and increased capacity because of improved interface rejection as compared to the switched beam arrays. It can either reject multipath components or add them by correcting the delays to enhance the signal quality. VIII. ADVANTAGES OF SMART ANTENNAS TECHNOLOGY A. Reduction in co-channel interference Smart antennas has property of spatial filtering to focus radiated energy in the form of narrow beams only n the direction of desired users. They also have nulls in their radiation pattern in the direction of other mobile users in the vicinity. Therefore there is often negligible co-channel interference.

B. Range improvement: Since smart antennas employ collection of individual elements in the form of an array they give rise to narrow beam with increased gain when compared to conventional antennas using the same power.

The increase in gain leads to increase in range and the coverage of the system. Therefore fewer base stations are required to cover a given area. C. Increase in capacity: Smart antennas enable reduction in co-channel interference which leads to increase in frequency reuse factor. So Smart antennas allow more users to use the same frequency spectrum

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Recent Advances in Electronics and Communication Technologies (RAECT-2011) at the time bringing about the tremendous increase in capacity.

4-5 March, 2011

D. Reduction in transmitted power: Ordinary antennas radiate energy in all directions leading to a waste of power. Therefore less power is required for radiation at the base station. Reduction in transmitted power also implies reduction in interference towards other users. E. Reduction in handoff: To improve the capacity n a crowded cellular network, congested cells are further broken into micro cells, which leads to a further increase in frequency reuse factor. This results in frequent hand-offs , as the cell size is smaller. Using smart antennas at the base station, there is no need to split the cells since the capacity is increased by using independent spot beams. Therefore handoffs occur rarely.

J. Cost Reduction Path: Mobile wireless service providers would likely deploy smart antennas technology initially at certain hot spots such as densely populated urban areaswhere there is more demand for high-speed wireless data services. The high NRE costs and long development cycles associated with ASICs cannot be justified for such low volume requirements. Along with a significant time-to-market advantage over ASICs, Altera's ASICs offer a seamless migration process that supports the high-density Stratix series FPGAs and can offer up to 70 percent cost reduction for relatively low minimum order quantities (MOQs). IX. FUTURE SCOPE OF TECHNOLOGY

F. Mitigation of multipath effects: Smart antennas can either reject multipath components as interference, thus mitigating its effect in terms of fading or it can use its multipath components and add them constructively to enhance the system performance. G. Compatibility: Smart antenna technology can be applied to various multiple access techniques such as TDMA, FDMA, CDMA. It is compatible with almost any modulation method and bandwidth or frequency band. H. Flexibility: There are a number of beamforming architectures and adaptive algorithms that provide good performance under different scenarios such as transmit-receive adaptive beamforming and transmitreceive switched beamforming. With embedded Nios II processors and easy-to-use development tools , Altera.FPGAs offer a high degree of flexibility in implementing various adaptive signal processing algorithms. I. Lower Risk: The standards for next-generation networks are continuously evolving, and this creates an element of risk for beamforming ASIC implementation. Transmit beamforming, for example, utilizes the feedback from the mobile terminals. The number of bits provided for feedback in the standards can determine the beamforming algorithm that is used at the base station. Moreover, future base stations are likely to support transmit diversity including space-time coding and multipleinput multiple-output (MIMO) technology. Because Altera FPGAs are remotely upgradeable, they reduce the risk involved with designing for evolving industry standards while providing the option for the gradual deployment of additional transmit diversity schemes.

Smart antenna systems are also a defining characteristic of MIMO systems, such as the IEEE 802.11n standard. Conventionally, a smart antenna is a unit of a wireless communication system and performs spatial signal processing with multiple antennas. Multiple antennas can be used at either the transmitter or receiver. Recently, the technology has been extended to use the multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver; such a system is called a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system. As extended Smart Antenna technology, MIMO supports spatial information processing, in the sense that conventional research on Smart Antennas has focused on how to provide a beamforming advantage by the use of spatial signal processing in wireless channels. Spatial information processing includes spatial information coding such as Spatial multiplexing and Diversity Coding, as well as beamforming. CONCLUDING REMARKS As is present scenario, it appears that the major requiremement for future wireless systems are higher data rates with better coverage to a large number of users at a reasonable cost. To obtain these goals, higher signal-to-noise ratio (more power),interference suppression and multipath mitigation is needed.The smart antenna is universely recognized as a critical component in meeting these requirements, but much research is still to be done.Some of these major research issues includes certain factors like cost(including power and electronics), size, diversity, tracking, spatial temporal processing, hooks in international standards to include provisions in smart antennas, vertical integration/indisciplinary research.Of these, indisciplinary research incorporating smart antennas was considered to be the key to the greatest gains.For future wireless systems to be viable, substantial research on smart antennas in the above ares will be required,with emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The author is highly grateful to M.S.Saini,Director,Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana, for providing this opportunity to carry out the paper work at Smart Antenas- A Vision of future.

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Recent Advances in Electronics and Communication Technologies (RAECT-2011) I would like to express a sense of gratitude and thanks profusely to Prof. Arvind Dhingra,Department of Electriacal Engineering,GNDEC,Ludhiana.The constant guidance and encouragement has been of great help in carrying out the work. I also want to thank the staff of Electrical Engineering Deptt.,GNDEC,Ldh, and all my friends and family members who directly or indirectly help me during the course of work.Discussions with them have been incalculably beneficial. The author owe a great debt to Prof. Jaswinder Singh, Head of Department of Electrical Engineering,GNDEC,Ludhiana for providing this opportunity and for their intellectual support thoughout the course of work. The references that have been consulted in bringing out this report are also gratefully acknowledged. Manpreet Kaur Sekhon

4-5 March, 2011

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