Apparatus, system and method of beamforming

An apparatus comprising logic and circuitry configured to cause a first wireless station to operate as a responder station to:

• perform a Transmit Sector Sweep (TXSS) protocol with a second wireless station as an initiator station over a directional frequency band using a plurality of antennas of the first wireless station, an antenna of the plurality of antennas of the first wireless station comprising a plurality of sectors, the TXSS protocol comprising a TXSS initiator sector sweep (ISS) phase of the initiator station, and a TXSS responder sector sweep (RSS) phase of the responder station, the apparatus configured to cause the first wireless station to, during the TXSS RSS phase, perform a sequence of a plurality of TXSS via the plurality of antennas of the first wireless station, respectively, and to repeat the sequence of TXSS based on a number of antennas of the initiator station;
• perform a Receive Sector Sweep (RXSS) protocol with the second wireless station over the directional frequency band using the plurality of antennas of the first wireless station, the RXSS protocol comprising an RXSS ISS phase of the initiator station and an RXSS RSS phase of the responder station, wherein, during the RXSS RSS phase, the responder station is to sequentially transmit a plurality of responder Sector Sweep (SSW) transmission sequences via the plurality of antennas of the first wireless station, respectively, the responder station to perform a responder SSW transmission sequence via a particular antenna of the plurality of antennas of the first wireless station by transmitting a plurality of responder SSW frames via a first selected responder transmit sector of the particular antenna, and repeating transmission of the responder SSW frames via at least a second selected responder transmit sector of the particular antenna based on the number of antennas of the initiator station;
• and
• based on the TXSS and RXSS protocols, configure the plurality of antennas of the first wireless station to communicate a Single-User (SU) Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) transmission with the second wireless station.

A product including one or more tangible computer-readable non-transitory storage media comprising computer-executable instructions operable to, when executed by at least one processor, enable the at least one processor to cause a first wireless station to operate as an initiator station to:

• perform a Transmit Sector Sweep (TXSS) protocol with a second wireless station as a responder station over a directional frequency band using a plurality of antennas of the first wireless station, an antenna of the plurality of antennas of the first wireless station comprising a plurality of sectors, the TXSS protocol comprising a TXSS initiator sector sweep (ISS) phase of the initiator station, and a TXSS responder sector sweep (RSS) phase of the responder station, the instructions, when executed, cause the first wireless station to, during the TXSS ISS phase, perform a sequence of a plurality of TXSS via the plurality of antennas of the first wireless station, respectively, and to repeat the sequence of the plurality of TXSS based on a number of antennas of the responder station;
• perform a Receive Sector Sweep (RXSS) protocol with the second wireless station over the directional frequency band using the plurality of antennas of the first wireless station, the RXSS protocol comprising an RXSS ISS phase of the initiator station and an RXSS RSS phase of the responder station, wherein, the instructions when executed, cause the initiator station to, during the PASS ISS phase, sequentially transmit a plurality of initiator Sector Sweep (SSW) transmission sequences via the plurality of antennas of the first wireless station, respectively, the instructions, when executed, to cause the initiator station to perform an initiator SSW transmission sequence via a particular antenna of the plurality of antennas of the first wireless station by transmitting a plurality of initiator SSW frames via a first selected initiator transmit sector of the particular antenna, and repeating transmission of the initiator SSW frames via at least a second selected initiator transmit sector of the particular antenna based on the number of antennas of the responder station;
• and
• based on the TXSS and RXSS protocols, configure the plurality of antennas of the first wireless station to communicate a Single-User (SU) Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) transmission with the second wireless station.