Informed MIMO Implementation of Distributed Transmit Beamforming for Range Extension

Radios are ubiquitous today as embedded air interfaces to smartphones, electronic wearables, sensors, and autonomous systems. In many instances these radios are in close proximity to one another and share a common goal of relaying a message to a distant terminal. Examples include sensor networks, a swarm of UAVs, search and rescue teams, emergency response teams, police and military squads, a group of people beyond cell coverage attempting to send text messages, etc. Currently, the radio resources of the group offer no help when a single member attempts to contact the base. In this paper, we describe the implementation of a new approach to leverage group radio resources to gain a square-law growth in receive power at the base while simultaneously suppressing a moderate amount of incidental interference at the base radio.