WIFI - what is the possibility of MIMO

[MColl8]

Hi all, chasing a bit of info regarding the wifi modual, specifically weather or not MIMO is possible.

the Edison touts 802.11 n, however there is little else disclosed about the chipset. I believe that it is BCM43340, LBEH5DU1BW. The lack of available datasheets and information is making it hard to judge. similar chipsets seem to be single stream only, the single antenna design seems to support that.

unfortunatly MIMO is essential to a planned project and I have purchased on the assumption that n class supported MIMO by default. does anyone have an answer or a suggestion?

[Pedro_M_Intel · Accepted solution]

Hello MBC,

I took a look at the http://www.intel.com/support/edison/sb/CS-035380.htm Intel® Edison Wi-Fi User Guide and unfortunately MIMO is not listed as one of the Edison's features, so I'm afraid it is not supported.

Peter.

[MColl8]

OK this is a little frustrating that the documentation only goes as far as saying class n but not stating its capabilities.

It seems the Edison's design switches between tx and rx on the same antenna as 2.4, 5 and Bluetooth. that seems odd to me as it would be limiting the communications by having to share the antenna. wouldn't it be better to have two separate antennas to enable multiple streams?

im under the impression that 802.11n requires at minimum mimo 1x1 being an antenna for rx and tx to be classified as n

I'm now looking to add a second wifi transceiver and bridging the wifi interfaces to enable a full duplex communication.

Does anyone/intel have a recommended part for this?

[Pedro_M_Intel]

I've never used another interface to set Wi-Fi connectivity on the Edison, nevertheless there are some threads that talks about it, I'll leave a few of them bellow, they might be of your interest:

(This is a Galileo thread, but still it could help you)

(This thread talks about a 3G dongle, but I believe it could also interest you)

Peter.