Wireless network

Physics

Channel (broadcasting)

Computer network

Extremely high frequency

Wireless

Millimeter

Operating system

Optics

Engineering

Antenna (radio)

Electronic engineering

Computer science

Transmitter

Directional antenna

Process (computing)

Telecommunications

There is much interest in integrating millimeter wave radios (mmWave) into wireless LANs and 5G cellular networks to benefit from their multi-GHz of available spectrum. Yet, unlike existing technologies, e.g., WiFi, mmWave radios require highly directional antennas. Since the antennas have pencil-beams, the transmitter and receiver need to align their beams before they can communicate. Existing systems scan the space to find the best alignment. Such a process has been shown to introduce up to seconds of delay, and is unsuitable for wireless networks where an access point has to quickly switch between users and accommodate mobile clients.

Fast millimeter wave beam alignment