When working with radio and sound waves, you may come across the term “beamforming” frequently. This term references a signal processing technique that is useful in everything from concert acoustics to medicine. To understand whether your application needs a combiner for beamforming, you should understand this spatial filtering technique, why it is needed for your purposes and where it is best used.
What Is It?
Beamforming, or spatial filtering, uses elements in an antenna array combined so that signals at some angles experience destructive interference while others experience constructive interference. A beamformer combiner controls the relative amplitude and phase of a signal at each transformer. For example, this technique is used to broadcast sonar signals from an array in a pattern that sends the signals from each transmitter timed to reach the object in question simultaneously. This timing allows better sound wave detection as it bounces from the ship to produce a clearer picture and more accurate coordinates.
Why Is It Needed?
Adaptive beamforming is used to detect and estimate the signal of interest on the receiver side of the equation, allowing for more precise information and filtering different sound or radio waves. This spatial filtering technique helps imaging diagnostics in biomedicine, where precision imaging through sound waves is used to detect and target masses for surgery. It can also be used to detect underground sources of water and oil deposits with more precision. Spatial filtering techniques and arrays can also be used for directional signal transmissions, such as sonar pulses and reception, as in radio receivers.
Where Is It Used?
As technology advances, radio and sound waves are used by more industries for additional tasks. Not only can beamforming help guide surgery and mining efforts, but it is also regularly used to direct air traffic, monitor astronomic anomalies and aid wireless internet and network capabilities. Handheld AM and FM radios can even use this technique to dial the receiver to a specific station bandwidth. The technology is instrumental in monitoring and developing wireless technology such as the Internet of Things and RFID receivers.
Beamforming is just one of many manipulation techniques for radio and sound waves, and it can be used in both transmitting and receiving arrays to different effects. You can use this technique to time sonar pulses in an array for more precise location detection or in receivers for a wireless speaker system at a party for more precise sound.
