Directed mimo communications

An apparatus comprising:

• m antenna arrays configured to receive a propagating radio frequency signal and configured to transmit a propagating radio frequency signal, each of the antenna arrays comprising:
• a plurality of antenna elements;
• and
• a beamformer configured to produce n different bi-directional beams using the plurality of antenna elements;
• and
• n multiple-input multiple-output transceivers (MIMO), each MIMO transceiver comprising:
• a MIMO receiver configured to process m different received signals, wherein an i-th received signal to a j-th MIMO receiver corresponds to a j-th beam of an i-th antenna array;
• and
• a MIMO transmitter configured to provide process m different transmit signals,
• wherein a v-th transmit signal from a z-th MIMO transmitter corresponds to a z-th beam of a v-th antenna array,
• wherein m, n, v, and z are integer number values, and
• wherein i=1, . . . , m, j=1, . . . , n, and v=1, . . . m, and
• wherein n≧2 and m≧2.

An apparatus comprising:

• m antenna arrays configured to receive a propagating radio frequency signal, each of the antenna arrays comprising:
• a plurality of antenna elements;
• and
• a beamformer configured to produce n different receive beams using the plurality of antenna elements;
• and
• n multiple-input multiple-output receivers (MIMO), each MIMO receiver configured to process m different received signals, wherein an i-th received signal to a j-th MIMO receiver corresponds to a j-th beam of the i-th antenna array,
• wherein m and n are integer number values, and
• wherein i=1, . . . , m, and j=1, . . . , n, and
• wherein n≧2 and m≧2.

An apparatus comprising:

• m antenna arrays configured to transmit a propagating radio frequency signal, each of the antenna arrays comprising:
• a plurality of antenna elements;
• and
• a beamformer configured to produce n different transmit beams using the plurality of antenna elements;
• and
• n multiple-input multiple-output transmitters (MIMO), each MIMO transmitter configured to process m different transmit signals, wherein a v-th transmit signal from a z-th MIMO transmitter corresponding to a z-th beam of a v-th antenna array is selected for transmission,
• wherein m, n, v, and z are integer number values, and
• wherein j=1, . . . , n, and v=1, . . . m, and
• wherein n≧2 and m≧2.