What is Beamforming? ("the best explanation I’ve ever heard")

Explains how a beam is formed by adding delays to antenna elements.
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Related Videos: (see iaincollings.com/ )
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For a full list of Videos and accompanying Summary Sheets, see the associated website: www.iaincollings.com

[@trentwashington9648]

Best. Explanation. Period.

[@Dan-qp1el]

Period.

[@northmirko]

Period.Period.

[@MAV3NX]

Solid Gold. Like Einstein said, if you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it enough. What a concise visual representation of the basics of beamforming.

[@iain_explains]

Thanks for your nice comment. I'm glad you like the video.

[@ethancooper4154]

Here I am, in my first hardware engineering job for digital audio devices, coming back to the same channel that got me through my first signals and systems class as a sophomore in college. Quality translates, folks! Iain rocks!!!

[@iain_explains]

That's awesome to hear! Thanks for your comment. Good luck in your job. It's always exciting to hear from people starting their careers in industry.

[@user-tj3re5tm2u]

Words are not enough to express how grateful I am to have encountered this channel. Thank you again dear Iain for sharin your knowledge

[@iain_explains]

Thanks for your very nice comment. It's great to hear that you like the videos.

[@JuanMrDude]

It's amazing how good your videos are. With just pen and paper you have made me understand so many concepts! Thank you so much for your contribution.

[@iain_explains]

I'm so glad you like the videos and the format!

[@leeamiellina9855]

Clear explanation sir. thank you

[@ainguyensy6006]

That's exactly "the best explanation I've ever heard". Thank you sir!

[@iain_explains]

Glad it was helpful!

[@LTEVideoTutorials]

I watched many videos on this topic, but only this video made me visualise the beam forming. Thanks for making such a complicated topic so easy :)

[@iain_explains]

Glad it helped!

[@slimjim3921]

Trying to wrap my head around this topic all day, caught your video and boom, mind blown... THANK YOU!

[@iain_explains]

Fantastic! I'm so glad it helped.

[@TheArtofEngineering]

I just saw your other video! Will watch that now!

[@iain_explains]

Great. I hope it helps.

[@pk638684]

Thanks Mr. Iain for explaining in such an easy way the Beamforming.

[@iain_explains]

Glad it was helpful!

[@wunxue]

This explain is intuitive and clear. Excellent job.

[@iain_explains]

Glad it was helpful!

[@albertpicher832]

You even make it clear to me. Thanks a lot for ur work.

[@iain_explains]

Glad to hear that

[@tetianao2053]

Wow. That is the best explanation I’ve ever heard. Thank you so much.

[@iain_explains]

That's great to hear. Glad it was helpful!

[@mehmetfatihayten8269]

great video, thank you!

[@ChayD13]

I never liked a KZbin video as much as i like this one. Indeed, it's the best explanation I have ever heard. Thank you so much for your work Prof. I wish I could have a professor like you in my university.

[@iain_explains]

Thanks so much for your very nice comment. I'm so glad you liked the video.

[@bobbaberson3654]

Dear Iain, these are all amazing videos. It is really tough to condense such complex material into short videos but maintain understandability of the it. This is really appreciated. You mentioned radar a couple of times. Do you have any plans to make a basic lecture on that? Maybe just simple doppler/ToF/AoA extraction or maybe something on MUSIC algorithm. I have been searching for a while for a decent explanation of MUSIC but it is hard to find one.

[@iain_explains]

I'm glad you like the videos. Thanks for the suggestion of a radar and MUSIC topic video. I'll add it to my "to do" list.

[@iain_explains]

... I just came across this comment again. I've now made a few videos on Radar, and plan to make more. I guess you may have seen them by now, but if not, then the ones I've done so far are: "Why is a Chirp Signal used in Radar?" kzbin.info/www/bejne/gKrRoGB4lsSfgdU , "What is a Stepped Frequency Radar Signal?" kzbin.info/www/bejne/bHu5eJVpgNWJp9U and "How does a Radar Track Manoeuvring Targets?" kzbin.info/www/bejne/n5PZnX6KfLZnsLM

[@AA-gl1dr]

Fantastic lecture. Thank you.

[@iain_explains]

I'm glad you liked it.

[@tianyouhu5973]

Before watching your video I’ve been reading a lot of blog introducing what is beamforming, but I still cannot understand it. Your illustration is so easy to understand. Thank you Sir!

[@iain_explains]

I'm glad you found it useful.

[@hzmaomao0307]

The most intuisive explaination that I've ever seen!

[@iain_explains]

I'm so glad it was helpful.

[@havinganap]

Excellent. The idea of starting with the recieve case is genius!

[@iain_explains]

Thanks. Glad you liked it!

[@irfan_antennas]

Watched 2 times and understood it like nothing else. It is the best explanation.

[@iain_explains]

I'm so glad it helped. And I'm glad you found it useful to watch a second time. I've always tried to put details into my videos, alongside the overall explanations, that will give people extra benefits if they watch the videos multiple times.

[@user-sh9uw9wg3h]

One of the best explanations. Thanks.

[@iain_explains]

Glad you think so!

[@mantasbarcys6509]

great video, thanks

[@adarshiyer8244]

I haven't seen a better explanation for this.. hats off sir

[@iain_explains]

Thanks. I'm glad you liked it.

[@elblanco5]

Woah, that was incredibly well explained!

[@iain_explains]

Thanks. Glad you found it useful.

[@wangjohn6639]

excellant!such a clear lecture to talk about beamforming. Thx very much

[@iain_explains]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ankitaghorui900]

Hi Iain. Thank you for explaining this concept in such a beautiful manner. This video has proved very helpful for me in my first job.

[@iain_explains]

I'm so glad it was helpful!

[@user-lf6wc2ji2p]

Thank you! Professor! You are really good at teaching and educating!

[@iain_explains]

You are very welcome. I'm glad you are finding the videos helpful.

[@hausdesigner]

Glad that I’ve found this channel and yeah best explanation I’ve ever heard

[@iain_explains]

Welcome aboard! I'm glad you liked the explanation.

[@pinec0ne]

I had so many "aha!" moments during this video that I ended up liking it multiple times, from going to click the "Like" button, forgetting that I had already liked the video just a few minutes before. Great explanation!

[@iain_explains]

Thanks. I'm so glad you found the video helpful.

[@hello-lb3vf]

phenomenal explanation

[@iain_explains]

Thanks. I'm glad you liked it.

[@BartomiejZogaa]

Thanks for explaination, now I'm wondering how the transceiver actually tunes to specific wireless client by selecting right delays?. Is it still in PHY or MAC layer ? Also how fast is the switching ? As if we have 4x4 router and two typical 2x2 clients how router assures signal from 3rd device will be still handled without comprising value added of two existing MU-MIMO clients?

[@zahrazarei6858]

Thank you so much for the precise and clear explanation on this topic. I would appreciate it if you explain about coodbook based precoder and combiner in mmwave, too. I have faced some troubles understanding this topic.

[@iain_explains]

Thanks for the suggestion. I've added it to my "to do" list.

[@lephong8947]

Perfect explanation. Thank you Sir!

[@iain_explains]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ibrahimbaras7648]

awesome explanation, I thought at the begneinggg how hw said best explanation , but he worth the name love the material Mr.Iain

[@iain_explains]

Glad you liked it!

[@SeanAM2023]

It's just awesome! Didn't know there is a similar beamforming effect in the receiving end as there is in the transmitting side.

[@iain_explains]

Glad I could help!

[@cchurchus]

Great explanation, Iain

[@iain_explains]

Glad you liked it

[@sivasenthilkumaranmuthusam5552]

One of the best explanations of beam forming ..

[@iain_explains]

Glad you liked it

[@dhananjaytiwari3213]

Thank you Iain, For making such a wonderful videos and providing us a valuable knowledge. Can you make a videos on DSP Filters (IIR and FIR Filters)? It will be very helpful.

[@iain_explains]

Thanks for the suggestion. They're on my "to do" list.

[@muhannadaydi2235]

Thank you Pr. for this helpful video. Could you explain Beamspace in MIMO. Best regards

[@iain_explains]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll put it on my "to do" list.

[@matlepak9694]

Excellent info. I wanted to understand beamforming microphone this explains a lot!

[@iain_explains]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ayushidube4032]

Very illustrative and logical thank you 😊

[@iain_explains]

Glad it was helpful!

[@hosseinnouruzi730]

frankly it is the best explanation

[@iain_explains]

Thanks. I'm glad you liked it.

[@jayakrishnankr857]

Curiosity can put u anywhere and some places cant be forgotten .This place too💙

[@sagarraop]

This is really good one 👍

[@iain_explains]

I'm glad you like it

[@fifaham]

Thank you Iain. Beam forming is an Amazing principle. So by adding multiple antennas (n Antennas) and injecting a delay circuits and adders we can form those shaped zones and select which receiver to have the best reception from specific direction. I imagine that if we have a programmable delay circuits with algorithm to control those delays and selecting the proper antennas then we can control those beams. Is that what is used in space division multiple access? We maybe able also to have intelligent algorithm that senses the RSSI levels, provide feedback to apply combinations of selecting antennas, adders and delay circuits and eventually automatically select the sending location. I wonder if such a thing already exists?

[@iain_explains]

Yes, that's right. It's exactly what happens in MU-MIMO. The process you've described happens in the matrix operations in the receiver (for receive beamforming) and the transmitter (for transmit precoding). See "What is Multi-User MIMO Communications (MU MIMO)?" kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zp_GeoqindioZ6M

[@CanadianPranks12]

Interesting facts

[@hongliu909]

The best explanation I've seen 👏

[@iain_explains]

Thanks. I'm glad you liked it.

[@oggamer2244]

sir you're so unbelievably amazing ❤❤. truly thank you

[@iain_explains]

So nice of you

[@betanapallisandeepra]

Good explanation… 😊 thank you

[@iain_explains]

Glad it was helpful!

[@FreemanEvents]

Thanks mate for the explanation. Makes sense.

[@iain_explains]

Glad it helped

[@CHIUCHINGLIANG]

Thank you for the introduction

[@iain_explains]

You're welcome

[@tariqislam9388]

Very useful. Very well explained.

[@iain_explains]

Glad it was helpful!

[@MGTOW-nn9ls]

Dear Sir your videos are brilliant. Your explanations very clear .Thank you for sharing your knowledge

[@iain_explains]

Thanks for your nice comment. I'm glad the videos are helping.

[@dcpotomac20850]

I have a master degree in EE, this is the best explanation of beam forming I have seen without all the fancy equations.

[@iain_explains]

I'm glad you liked the explanation.

[@saranyakrishnan2386]

Thanku sir...understood perfectly

[@iain_explains]

Great. I'm glad it helped.

[@dimitrisv.1729]

A video with basic beamforming techniques for MIMO(or massive MIMO) systems would be helpful.

[@iain_explains]

Here's a link to my new video on MIMO: kzbin.info/www/bejne/inSUapqDhpuUsKc

[@antonabik550]

Best beamforming explanation I have seen.

[@iain_explains]

Thanks for your comment. I'm glad you liked it.

[@turan8737]

Thanks for perfect explanation sir

[@iain_explains]

Glad you liked it.

[@johnsonisreal4530]

Thanks , well explained.

[@iain_explains]

Glad it was helpful!

[@johneicher6683]

Best explanation in existence.

[@iain_explains]

Thanks. I'm really glad you liked it.

[@parisqasemian307]

You are very gooooood🌷🌷

[@fnegnilr]

Great explanation! You just picked up another subscriber....

[@iain_explains]

Welcome aboard!

[@marcinrybakowski8926]

Great explanations. Is it possible to visualize near field beamforming (beam focusing) in similar way?

[@iain_explains]

Yes, but in that case the delays are not constant between different antenna elements.

[@amirmahdi_s6343]

very nice

[@sajjadahmad8339]

can't be explained better than this, so clear.

[@iain_explains]

Thanks for your comment. I'm glad you liked it.

[@wayzerr6576]

amazing video good clear explanation i love u

[@iain_explains]

I'm so glad you liked it!

[@lakshmikandula634]

thank you so much 🙌

[@iain_explains]

You're welcome 😊

[@flyingpinguu]

Thanks this made me understand it better! It still left me with a question though. If you look at an angle such that the phase shifting is exactly a whole period, the waves will still add up constructively there. How is it made that these side maxima are so weak in phased array antennas?

[@iain_explains]

Yes, that's a good observation. This effect depends on how far apart the antennas are spaced. Check out this video for more details: "How does Antenna Spacing affect Beamforming?" kzbin.info/www/bejne/l57IoaycbpJ4Z9k

[@eightysevenmoore]

So… I created a machine monitoring daq using LabVIEW, mics and NI cRIO’s… about 4 months into monitoring a dyno i intuitively came up with this concept not knowing I stumbled upon beam forming by looking at hundreds of high speed wave form data… Thank you sir for plainly consolidating my mad-ness!

[@iain_explains]

I'm so glad my video helped you.

[@deepinmoutain]

Thank you very much for the explanation. I have a question. Antennas are fixed on a wireless device. So, the distance between antennas will be the same. How does it work for different frequencies?

[@iain_explains]

Excellent question! The form of beamforming that maximises SNR (that I describe in this video) is inherently narrow band. In practice it doesn't have to be exactly half a wavelength separation, and there are approaches to designing beams that are wide band, but they come with a performance penalty in terms of SNR.

[@markcraddock803]

Thanks a ton Ian. Not what I thought beamforming was. Excellent explanation of the theory of beamforming. Do you offer any in house training?

[@iain_explains]

I'm glad you liked the video. I'm not offering in-house training or tutoring at the moment, but potentially will in future. For now, the videos will have to do. Please do let me know if there are particular topics that you'd like to hear more about if I haven't covered it so far. Check out my web page which shows a fully categorised list of the videos: iaincollings.com

[@standardcoder1184]

6:40 Shouldn't that be 3 time the delay (and not twice) if we want the signal from non-equatorial source?

[@unebonnevie]

Nice!

[@idan1242]

amazing explanation very clear! but if im using only one channel/device does it better to turn off beamforming for smoother connection? thank you!

[@iain_explains]

I'm not sure what you're asking, sorry. Beamforming is a technique for increasing the radiated/received power in a particular direction. In its most basic version, it is tuned for a specific channel/user. In more advanced implementations, it can be tuned for multiple channels/users.

[@junkthe]

If im an Client Router Beamforming as Repeater, will it work beamforming from Ap that dont have mimo ? My Ap Is moving Object here. Please help me answer ?

[@bigdissocute8088]

u explained way better than my professor, thank you sir🥰.

[@iain_explains]

Happy to help

[@emanuelepulcidoria2857]

Thanks Iain, this is a very good explanation. It is based on the simple case of a single known frequency incoming wave. What happens if you do not know the frequencies of the waves you are picking up, or is this something you must know beforehand?

[@iain_explains]

If you don't know the frequency or the direction, then you need to do some sort of beam scanning, and search for the signal. There's a lot of research on this topic. Maybe I should think about making a video on it.

[@emanuelepulcidoria2857]

@@iain_explains Thanks Iain, I was researching the beamforming topic to better understand the towed array bearing ambiguity for submarines and indirectly your video explains this ambiguity quite well. But how you process and determine the direction of more complex signals composed of all different frequencies it is still not really clear for me.

[@jinxhoodo]

Hi Lian, One question. Do you know that the introduction of delta can be dynamically changed or not? ex. in case of mobile communication, they can change position constantly so the beam direction should change also. how does that work?

[@iain_explains]

Yes, the time delay (delta) can be adaptively changed at pretty much whatever rate you would like. For example, in radar the beam can be scanned across a range of angles, and in mobile communications it can be adapted to "follow" a user's signal based on either measuring training data, or actively scanning/jittering the beam. Plus lots of other applications.

[@CrazyDBS]

hello, I'm from Brazil and I wanted to know if beamforming also improves latency/ping in online games, thanks

[@lesliechen1285]

Couldn't thank you enough❤

[@iain_explains]

I'm glad it was helpful.

[@vikramgaud6276]

Thank you sir, for all of your videos; those are amazing😍. I have one doubt if we consider BS and UE then beamforming is used at BS only or at the UE side or both?

[@iain_explains]

It can be used by any communication device that has multiple antennas. So yes, it can be used at both the Base Station and the User Equipment, if they have multiple antennas.

[@vikramgaud6276]

@@iain_explains Thank you 😊

[@gat0tsu]

thanks very much

[@iain_explains]

You're welcome!

[@muriatik_]

hey iain, great video! i just have one question - if we transmit from the other side (like symmetrically about the normal), wouldn't we have the same high gain? because if my understanding is correct, all the waves would still constructively interfere in the receiver, just 180° phase-shifted from the waveform we get if we transmit from the direction in the video.

[@iain_explains]

Yes, that's right. Good observation. In practice though the antenna elements are not isotropic. They most often have a backing plate so that each element radiates more in the "outward" direction, and almost nothing in the "backwards" direction.

[@muriatik_]

@@iain_explains ahhh, that makes sense, thanks!

[@wunxue]

How far is far enough for considering the wave front to be flat?

[@tombouie]

Thks

[@Native_love]

Cool explanation! Subbed for more excellent videos!

[@iain_explains]

Great. I'm glad you liked it.

[@ankitbhanu5551]

Such a simple yet clear explanation, which even hour long fancy videos are unable to provide

[@iain_explains]

Glad you liked it

[@shwetavincent1136]

This is brilliant1

[@iain_explains]

I'm so glad you liked it.

[@omar778]

thank you so much

[@iain_explains]

You're welcome!

[@flaminglotus11]

Thank you!

[@iain_explains]

You're welcome!

[@hwan2909]

I can understand the basic princple of beamforming form your video, but I have a question. Consider 24Ghz freq MIMO radar system, which has the spatial distace between Rx antenna is lambda/2. To acheive +50 degree digital beamforming, the delay time should be (lambda/2)*sin(50degree)/c = 1.6e-11 sec. So, if I want to make 50 degree beamforming, the minimum sampling rate of MIMO system should be 1.6e11 Hz, which is too high to make a real system. I want to know how can I solve this problem.. Thanks.

[@b41nikhithamadagoni66]

best explination😊

[@iain_explains]

Glad you think so!

[@hassannoghrey2157]

thank you so much for your video. I have a question? for a mathematic student, which books or courses do you propose to learn these concepts deeply? best.

[@iain_explains]

Here's a good book: D. Tse and P. Viswanath, “Fundamentals of Wireless Communication”

[@hassannoghrey2157]

@@iain_explains Thank you so much

[@melodisarhadi3433]

The distance between the center of two patches should be d or the distance between two adjacent sides of each patch?

[@iain_explains]

This is assuming ideal isotropically radiating point source elements (not flat patches). In practice, the spacing that maximises radiation efficiency will depend on the shape and size of the patches, as well as the locations of surrounding back plains etc.

[@FinalDestinationAllah]

Please upload more video on analog and digital communication, radios,SatCom,latest technologies

[@iain_explains]

Thanks for the topic suggestions. I've got them on my "to do" list (but it's getting to be a long list ...)

[@lisawing5564]

Thank you

[@iain_explains]

You're welcome

[@abdolvakilfazli2488]

I doubt that the delay between the second and third antenna equal to Delta. coz , for the first one the sinewave traveling quarter of its period while for the second, half. is it right?

[@iain_explains]

Well the important word is "between". It travels Delta delay _between_ any two neighbouring antennas. Of course, that means that _between_ the first and the third antennas it would be 2 x Delta, and so on.

[@niloofarbateni2194]

Thank you for the video. How is this used to calculate angles for data coming from say a short range radar?

[@iain_explains]

The angle is a simple function of the delay and the antenna spacing (it is briefly explained at the 7 min 30 sec point of the video). sin(theta) = Delta * c / d where theta is measured from the line perpendicular to the line that the array elements are on.

[@niloofarbateni2194]

@@iain_explains I see, Thank you. So fft gives the frequencies and that then is used with that formula to calculate the range?

[@iain_explains]

In radars, the range is generally calculated by sending a pulse and then measuring the time it takes for it to bounce back.

[@michaelhui8027]

@@iain_explains For pulse radar, this is the case. But for the FMCW radar, it is using the FFT to get the range, as the frequency is proportional to the range in the FMCW waveform.

[@gianlucamariani9162]

Thanks prof

[@iain_explains]

You're welcome.