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Wireless & Mobility · Foundational

Multipath

Two or more copies of the same signal arriving at a receiver at slightly different times via different paths.

Definition

Multipath results from reflection, scattering, and diffraction. The delayed copies can cause upfade, downfade, nulling, or data corruption through inter-symbol interference. MIMO radios in 802.11n and later use multipath to send multiple spatial streams.

Example

An indoor AP signal arrives directly and also via reflections off a metal ceiling.

Exam tip

Multipath is bad for legacy SISO but required for spatial multiplexing in MIMO.

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