Wireless Access

I would like to know if there is any requirement on client device for enjoying the benefit from MU-MIMO.

Assume I have a 3SS MU-MIMO AP and what kind of devices should I have so that the AP can simultaneously communicate with 1x1SS device + 1x2SS device?

Is there any MU-MIMO-enabled device needed?

 

Thank you buddy.

You will need MU-MIMO capable clients (802.11ac Wave 2 clients).

 

An excerpt from:

http://www.arubanetworks.com/pdf/technology/whitepapers/WP_80211acInDepth.pdf

 

 

MU-MIMO doesn’t increase the performance that users will see but allows the network to increase its utilization by transmitting to multiple clients simultaneously in the downstream direction from the AP. MU-MIMO is expected to become available as part of the future 802.11ac Wave 2 products but adoption is likely to be delayed due to the need for new clients with Wave 2 radios in order to see the benefits of the MU-MIMO or four spatial streams which will take time for a large number of clients to become available and deployed.

Fab clemo.

So that means if there are no MU-MIMO-enabled devices on site, the MU-MIMO AP still can not handle 2 clients simultaneously, am I right?

 

Correct, non-MU-MIMO clients will keep operating as regular 802.11ac MIMO clients even when connected to a MU-MIMO capable Access Point.

You only get the benefit of MU-MIMO if you have capabilities on the Client and AP side, unfortunately this is not always clearly documented in Wave 2 material.

There is currently only very few MU-MIMO capable clients available, but we expect to see more units go on the market this year.

So is there any MU MIMO enabled end device being in the market now? I have an Asus ZE551KL equipped with Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615 which supports MU MIMO but I have asked Asus whether the phone support MU-MIMO and Asus replied "NO". It seems that the phone can disable MU-MIMO although the chipset does support it. So how come? It's confusing!!! Thanks everyone.

I think you should also ask Asus why it does not support Nu-Mimo.  They would have a better answer than we would.

 

David,

 

This document from Qualcomm mentions your phone as being a MU-MIMO client, but with this footnote:

 

These devices contain the hardware and software necessary to enable MU-MIMO. It is at the device manufacturer’s discretion to fully enable this feature. MU-MIMO support is needed on both the access points and client devices to fully realize the benefit.

 

Maybe Asus hasn't updated the phone software yet or support was incorrect in stating the phone isn't MU-MIMO?

FWIW, I have spent a good chunk of the last 3-4 weeks talking directly with vendors looking for MU-MIMO capable *and enabled* laptops. Fact of the matter is, MU-MIMO 11ac is NOT something that most any vendor is aware of. So until it's more of a requirement from sales pressure, and/or there's more MU-MIMO deployed WLANs around, it's going to be tough. My guess is around Jun/July, you will start seeing MU-MIMO being enabled on these devices AND being marketed as such.

Thank you Howard for your information.

I wonder if MU-MIMO is a kind of software-config or hardware-config, is there any measures for Wave 1 AP to upgrade to Wave 2 with updated firmware?

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@jhoward wrote:

FWIW, I have spent a good chunk of the last 3-4 weeks talking directly with vendors looking for MU-MIMO capable *and enabled* laptops. Fact of the matter is, MU-MIMO 11ac is NOT something that most any vendor is aware of. So until it's more of a requirement from sales pressure, and/or there's more MU-MIMO deployed WLANs around, it's going to be tough. My guess is around Jun/July, you will start seeing MU-MIMO being enabled on these devices AND being marketed as such.

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David Liu,

 

There has to be Nu-Mimo capable hardware from the start.  There is no software upgrade from 802.11ac if the hardware was not capable in the first place.  This applies to  both on the client and AP side.

"MU-MIMO doesn’t increase the performance that users will see but allows the network to increase its utilization by transmitting to multiple clients simultaneously in the downstream direction from the AP."

Clembo, that's not entirely true. Although wave 2 doesn't increase the throughput available in 20/40/80 mghz wide channels, it does allow for 160mghz wide channels with increased (essentially double the data rates of 80mghz wide channels) theoughput. That being said, in most circumstances you will never be able to get away with using 160mghz wide channels due to possible dfs channel interference, or the inability to deploy them in an enterprise situation, there still remains the possibility of small branch offices in the middle of no where or home users that could potentially take advantage of this increased throughout that's only available to wave 2 clients from wave 2 APs. Here's a friendly reference chart, the 160mghz column is only available to wave 2 sessions.