Adaptive backup antenna selection to mitigate blockage effect in 60GHz system

We consider a beamforming based MIMO system equipped a large scale antenna array in the 60GHz band. In free-space, an optimal (primary) antenna subset is determined heuristically using stochastic approximation to take advantages of full antenna array with limited number of RF chains. As an extension, a smart obstacle avoidance strategy is integrated into the framework of antenna selection in case of obstacles appear in the way. With the modeled blockage attenuation caused by the obstacle, a backup antenna subset is also chosen from the selection history which recorded the intermediate results in primary selection procedure. The well designed scoring function makes the blockage mitigation low cost and efficient. Simulation results show significant improvements by substituting the primary antenna subset with the backup in different obstacle location.