Beamforming - Understanding Clientlink - Cisco Aironet 3700 Series Deployment Manual

Cisco Aironet Series 3700 Access Point
Figure 7 Feature Module of the Bottom of the AP 3700 and AP 3600
Beamforming – Understanding ClientLink
The AP 3700 supports the new "ClientLink 3.0" and is able to beamform to 802.11ac clients including
1, 2, and 3 spatial streams. It also supports all ClientLink 2.0 functionality with legacy 11a/g clients and
802.11n 1, 2, and 3 spatial stream clients.
The AP 3600 supports ClientLink 2.0 which beamforms to legacy 11a/g clients and 11n 1, 2, 3 spatial
stream but does not support ClientLink 3.0 (Cisco beamforming method to 11ac clients).
Both the AP 3700 and AP 3600 with module supports the 802.11ac beamforming standard known as
ECBF (Explicit Compressed Beam Forming)–a new IEEE method of beamforming that is emerging but
not yet fully supported in 11ac clients. Cisco ClientLink is similar but can work with all clients today
including 11a/g/n as well as 11ac clients. ClientLink also takes advantage of the extra transceiver in the
AP, so it beamforms to clients with 3 spatial streams.
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