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Input / Multiple-Output (MIMO) with beamforming according to the MAC protocols specified in
the G.hn Powerline standard.
In the reception direction, the transceiver synchronizes with the Powerline frames to receive
them, demodulate and decoding them, and after that, the resulting segments are reassembled
to form the corresponding Wi-Fi or Ethernet packets. The packets are delivered to the bridge
QoS, which prioritize the packets to the Wi-Fi or Ethernet interfaces.
Multiple-In Multiple-Out with Beamforming Overview
Una’s meshed Wi-Fi adapters support 2x2 MIMO with beamforming across the electrical power
lines.
MIMO increases the number of transmission paths across the power lines. Two, line drivers and
receivers enable Una’s to simultaneously transmit on two of the three electrical power line wires;
Phase, Neutral and Ground. Una’s MIMO paths consist of: Phase-Neutral or Phase-Ground.
Beamforming works by improving what is called the rate over range, at a given distance from the
transmitting adapter; a receiving adapter will have improved performance. This is accomplished
by creating two independent signal paths to optimally focus transmission energy to and from client
adapters on a per-packet basis.
Beamforming enables Extollo adapters at either side of a link to get maximum performance by
taking advantage of channels that have strong performance while avoiding paths and carriers that
have weak performance. A reasonable expectation is that beamforming can result in a gain of
anywhere between 2 to 5 dB in performance. Beamforming is adaptive, which means it can
constantly adjust Powerline performance based on real-time events.
The combination of 2x2 MIMO with beamforming improves bandwidth utilization and increase
Una’s network range. This, in turn, improves video streaming, voice quality, and other bandwidth
and latency sensitive transmission protocols.
G.hn Powerline Overview
A G.hn Powerline network can consists of one or more domains. Typically, a residential G.hn
Powerline network will consist of a single domain. In G.hn, a domain is constituted by all Powerline
adapters that can communicate with each other.
One of the Powerline adapters in a G.hn Powerline network becomes the Domain Master (DM).
The
function of the DM is to control and coordinate the operation of all Powerline adapters in