Hybrid Beamforming for Wireless Communication System

Advancements in phased array antenna designs have led to the development of the beamforming technique, in which the antenna beams are focused in the desired direction. This focus reduces interference, which is a critical requirement for wireless applications. Beamforming can be implemented using three schemes: Analog, Digital, and Hybrid beamforming. This paper compares these three beamforming techniques for a 5G system serving three users. Narrow beams were initially generated by using linear array of 8 elements at 4 GHz for all three users, and the analysis was extended to three different frequencies: 3.5 GHz, 4 GHz, and 4.5 GHz, assigned to each of the user respectively. The simulation results demonstrate that digital beamforming provides consistent gain across different frequencies and achieves the highest capacity among the three. Analog beamforming, while producing a narrow beam that minimizes interference, delivers a comparatively lower data rate. Hybrid beamforming combines the advantages of both analog and digital approaches, offering a narrow beam with improved capacity. Given its ability to minimize interference while enhancing capacity, thereby making hybrid beamforming a suitable choice for 5G communication systems.