How to check if beamforming works or not

[Sky1111]

ASUS advertizes "beamforming" as their WiFi enhancing feature, but I have not seen any proof of such technology.

- are there any special requirements? for example, can regular 2.4/5GHz bands enable it or you have to have ASUS AC adapter?
- how to check if beamworking works or not? can you somehow turn it on and off?

thanks!

 

[RMerlin]

You can enable/disable it under Wireless -> Professional.

Explicit requires a compatible adapter, while implicit works regardless of the adapter.

Beyond that, I don't know anything more as to how to measure its effect.

 

[Sky1111]

Hi Merlin,

this is what I see on Professional page:

Frequency
Enable Radio Yes No
Enable wireless scheduler Yes No
Date to Enable Radio (week days) Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri
Time of Day to Enable Radio : - :
Date to Enable Radio (weekend) Sat Sun
Time of Day to Enable Radio : - :
Set AP Isolated Yes No
Enable IGMP Snooping
Multicast Rate(Mbps)
Preamble Type
AMPDU RTS
RTS Threshold
DTIM Interval
Beacon Interval
Enable TX Bursting
Enable WMM APSD
Reducing USB 3.0 interference
Optimizar la agregación AMPDU
Optimize ack suppression
Tx power adjustment mW

Which one of this beamforming?

 

[darkstalker]

You are looking at the 2.4Ghz Professional page, so switch to 5Ghz Frequency at the top.

 

[Sky1111]

Wait a minute - Beamforming is only for 5GHz???

 

[joltdude]

Yep

Sent from my BNTV600 using Tapatalk 4

 

[thiggins]

Wait a minute - Beamforming is only for 5GHz???

The implementation of beamforming in AC routers is part of the 802.11ac spec, so works on 5 Ghz only. It requires an AC device that also has beamforming enabled. This is being referred to as "explicit" beamforming.

"implicit" beamforming is also being implemented in some products. This form allegedly works with any client.

Beamforming is supposed to improve throughout in medium signal conditions. As explained to me it will NOT extend range.

If the router allows it, you can test throughput with beamforming enabled and disabled and see for yourself.

 

[Sky1111]

thanks - I found both explicit and implicit beamforming on 5GHz page; explicit was on and implicit was off - even with that, 5GHz connection is much more solid in midrange.

Turned the implicit on - even though none of my wifi clients officially support it.

FYI - found this interesting article:
http://c541678.r78.cf2.rackcdn.com/reviews/tomshardware-clip.pdf

 

[doubleroll]

Interesting I only have explicit on RT-AC66R running stock 374_726. On by default however.

 

[Sky1111]

Interesting I only have explicit on RT-AC66R running stock 374_726. On by default however.

Stock firmware exposes only Explicit. Merlin exposes both

 

[RMerlin]

Stock firmware exposes only Explicit. Merlin exposes both

I would expect stock to expose both as well, provided the router supports it - I haven't made any change in this regard. Note that the second option was only added recently.

 

[Sky1111]

And did anybody tried implicit beamforming yet? does it make any difference?

 

[slidermike]

Hello,
I have been lurking around SNB for a while now.
Love the discussions & especially Merlins enhanced firmwares.

I have the rt-n66u & according to the box & webpage it supports AI Radar.
Is my understanding that AI Radar and beam forming are the same technology?
I ask because I do not see the beam forming option under my professional tab (5ghz) running merlin's latest beta.

Also, inside the configuration there is nothing about AI Radar, its only on the box & webpage.
Here is the excerpt.
"ASUS Ai Radar intelligently strengthens connections to wireless devices. With high-powered amplification and beam forming, it provides optimized signals in any direction with better coverage to improve data throughput."

 

[Sky1111]

Hello,
I have been lurking around SNB for a while now.
Love the discussions & especially Merlins enhanced firmwares.

I have the rt-n66u & according to the box & webpage it supports AI Radar.
Is my understanding that AI Radar and beam forming are the same technology?
I ask because I do not see the beam forming option under my professional tab (5ghz) running merlin's latest beta.

Also, inside the configuration there is nothing about AI Radar, its only on the box & webpage.
Here is the excerpt.
"ASUS Ai Radar intelligently strengthens connections to wireless devices. With high-powered amplification and beam forming, it provides optimized signals in any direction with better coverage to improve data throughput."

Interesting - how come we do not have AI Radar on RT-AC56U at all?

 

[PrivateJoker]

Interesting - how come we do not have AI Radar on RT-AC56U at all?

I hope you're sitting down, cause I'm about to make your day!

Looks like you do have it.

Is my understanding that AI Radar and beam forming are the same technology?

I think "AI Radar" is just a trademark or perhaps just marketing talk for "beamforming," which is a term used to describe antenna techniques such as "phased array" antennas which use multiple antennas in a phased (timed) way that allows the complete antenna unit to act as if it were highly directional. And they can do this many times quickly for many different signal paths. Many modern radar systems like Aegis, Patriot Missile, a lot of commercial & military aviation utilize fixed position phased array antennas instead of rotating directional antennas, to get instantaneous and highly directionalized signals on multiple points simultaneously. . .all with no moving parts.

 

[Sky1111]

I hope you're sitting down, cause I'm about to make your day!

Looks like you do have it.

LOL - I am getting old... I actually fished out the box - and yes, you are absolutely right - I have it too...

 

[RMerlin]

AiRadar is more than just beamforming. It's probably Asus's marketing term that includes all their technologies that improve range/coverage. That's why AiRadar has been mentioned long before beamforming got implemented.

 

[PrivateJoker]

AiRadar is more than just beamforming. It's probably Asus's marketing term that includes all their technologies that improve range/coverage. That's why AiRadar has been mentioned long before beamforming got implemented.

Not to be confused with "asus ai suite ii thermal radar". . .

 

[RMerlin]

As one part of my job I do system building. We've been exclusively using Asus boards for over ten years now (after some bad experiences with MSI, ABit and QDI), and Asus sure loves those marketing terms to put on new features. Each new generation of motherboards gets its new share of logos/terms. They even had marketing terms for a simple piece of plastic with pins in it that you can use to plug the front panel wires, and for a back IO shield without aluminium clips

 

[slidermike]

AiRadar is more than just beamforming. It's probably Asus's marketing term that includes all their technologies that improve range/coverage. That's why AiRadar has been mentioned long before beamforming got implemented.

What I am still confused about is this.
If the rt-n66u does indeed have beam forming as per the box & web-page then why don't we n66u owners have a button on our 5ghz professional tabs?

You guys with other models appear to have the implicit & explicit option for beam forming. We have no beam forming other than on the web-page & box.