System and method for preambles in a wireless communications network

A method for receiving a frame, the method comprising:

• receiving, by a station, an omni portion of the frame, the omni portion includes a non-beamformed long training field and a signal field, the non-beamformed long training field including channel estimation information used to decode the signal field;
• determining, by the station, a beamform status of a multi-stream portion of the frame;
• receiving, by the station, the multi-stream portion of the frame, the multi-stream portion including a multi-stream long training field and a data field, the multi-stream long training field including station-specific decoding information for station-specific data in the data field;
• and
• decoding, by the station, the multi-stream portion of the frame using a technique commensurate with the beamform status of the multi-stream portion of the frame.

A transmitting device comprising:

• a processor configured to:
• generate an omni portion of a frame, the omni portion including a non-beamformed long training field and a signal field, the non-beamformed long training field including channel estimation information used to decode the signal field, the non-beamformed long training field to be transmitted through one of multiple antennas and one of multiple streams,
• generate a multi-stream portion of the frame, the multi-stream portion including a data field and a multi-stream long training field, the multi-stream long training field including station-specific decoding information for station-specific data in the data field, and
• apply a beamforming indicator to the signal field of the omni portion, wherein the processor configured to apply the beamforming indicator comprises the processor configured to set a status indicator in the signal field, wherein the status indicator is set to a first value when the multi-stream portion is beamformed, and wherein the status indicator is set to a second value when the multi-stream portion is not beamformed;
• and
• a transmitter operatively coupled to the processor, the transmitter configured to transmit the frame.