On Phase Offsets of 802.11 ac Commodity WiFi

Abstract

We analyze the phase offsets between RF chains of modern IEEE 802.11ac chips. We investigate both the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands on a per OFDM subcarrier level. Results reveal that the phase offset between receive antennas is due to random phase rotations semi-time-invariant with up to four possible values. Moreover, it is frequency-dependent. We propose a simple algorithm, which allows us to correct the phase offset on the fly without any calibration. As proof-of-concept, we implemented angle of arrival (AoA) using MUSIC algorithm. To achieve higher accuracy we stitched the thirteen overlapping 20 MHz channels available in 2.4 GHz band together to effectively have a single 80 MHz channel. Results show very good AoA precision although only two receive antennas were used.