Multibeam antenna with decision-feedback equalization for home wireless communications

A multibeam beamformer is considered for the base station in a single-cell 100 Mbps TDMA/QPSK indoor wireless network at 24 GHz. Using a previously reported statistical propagation model that forms clusters of paths in angle and delay, we evaluate the performance of an RF beamformer in combination with a decision feedback equalizer (DFE) for indoor wireless communications. Based on the model, we calculate the required SNR (dB) per bit as a function of the number of beams in the beamformer, amount of tapering on the beams, the number of forward taps in the DFE, and selection combining versus optimal baseband two-beam combining for an outage probability of 10/sup -2/ with a BER threshold of 10/sup -5/.