5G Millimeter Waves: Are They Really Harmful

There has been a continuous debate about harmful effects of Electromagnetic Radiations ever since they came into existence. Most of the research results suggest that there are no harmful effects, if the rules and regulations are followed. But there is a small body of research that suggests that there might be some harmful effects and more research needs to be carried out. This is particularly important now as 5G Wireless Technology is being rolled out around the world and it uses millimeter waves for which we have limited data.

Read more

Fundamentals of a Rectangular Array – Mathematical Model and Code

Background In the previous few posts we discussed the fundamentals of Uniform Linear Arrays (ULAs), Beamforming, Multiuser Detection and Massive MIMO ([1], [2], [3], [4]). Now we turn our attention to more complicated array structures such as rectangular, triangular and circular. We still assume each element of the array to have an isotropic or omni-directional (in the plane of the array) radiation pattern. The mathematical models for more complicated radiation patterns are an extension of  the what is developed here. Square and Rectangular Arrays In this post we consider a square array which is a special case of rectangular array.  […]

Read more

Fundamentals of Linear Array Processing – Receive Beamforming

In the previous two posts we discussed the fundamentals of array processing particularly the concept of beamforming (please check out array processing Part-1 and Part-2). Now we build upon these concepts to introduce some linear estimation techniques that are used in array processing. These are particularly suited to a situation where multiple users are spatially distributed in a cell and they need to be separated based upon their angles of arrival. But first let us introduce the linear model; I am sure you have seen this before. x=Hs+w Here, s is the vector of symbols transmitted by M users, H […]

Read more

Basics of Beamforming in Wireless Communications

In the previous post we had discussed the fundamentals of a Uniform Linear Array (ULA). We had seen that as the number of array elements increases the Gain or Directivity of the array increases. We also discussed the Half Power Beam Width (HPBW) that can be approximated as 0.89×2/N radians. This is quite an accurate estimate provided that the number of array elements ‘N’ is sufficiently large. But the max Gain is always in a direction perpendicular to the array. What if we want the array to have a high Gain in another direction such as 45 degrees. How can […]

Read more