System and method for providing a distributed directional aperture for cellular communication

• US 10,103,795 B2
• Filed: 06/02/2016
• Issued: 10/16/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (Northrop Grumman Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (Northrop Grumman Corporation)
• Inventors: Houser, Peter B., Adams, Mark S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Talukder, Md
• Application Number:
  US15/171,123
• Publication Number:
  US 20160359537A1
• Time in Patent Office: 866 Days
• Field of Search: 4555621
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0617 for beam forming
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems

Abstract

A cellular communication transceiver including an array which includes a plurality of aperture elements distributed over one or more surfaces, the aperture elements being configured to receive and transmit cellular communication signals, a beamformer configured to apply a time domain beamforming process to the cellular communication signals to enable directional receive and transmit beams to be formed using the aperture elements, and a telemetry subsystem operably coupling the aperture elements to the beamformer.

Claims

1. A cellular communication transceiver comprising:

an array comprising a plurality of aperture elements distributed over a surface, the aperture elements being configured to receive and transmit cellular communication signals;

a beamformer configured to apply a time domain beamforming process to the cellular communication signals to enable directional receive and transmit beams to be formed using the aperture elements, wherein forming the receive and transmit beams is based on temporal alignment values associated with the plurality of aperture elements, the temporal alignment values being determined via computation of relative locations of each of the aperture elements within the plurality of aperture elements, wherein the temporal alignment is also based on a position and attitude of the surface over which the plurality of aperture elements are distributed; and

a telemetry subsystem operably coupling the aperture elements to the beamformer.

2. The cellular communication transceiver of claim 1, wherein the directional receive or transmit beams are formed based on azimuth, elevation, or distance.

3. The cellular communication transceiver of claim 1, wherein the surface is disposed at a structure comprising a water tower, building, natural formation or cellular tower.

4. The cellular communication transceiver of claim 1, wherein the surface is disposed to extend 360 degrees around an elevated structure.

5. The cellular communication transceiver of claim 1, wherein the aperture elements are embedded into a composite skin provided at the surface.

6. The cellular communication transceiver of claim 1, wherein the aperture elements are silk-screened onto the surface.

7. The cellular communication transceiver of claim 1, wherein a beamwidth of the directional receive and transmit beams is less than about three degrees.

8. The cellular communication transceiver of claim 1, wherein a beamwidth of the directional receive and transmit beams is between about three degrees and about five degrees.

9. The cellular communication transceiver of claim 1, wherein vector data associated with the directional receive and transmit beams is provided to a location device, the location device being configured to determine location information indicative of a location of a device communicating with the cellular communication transceiver.

10. The cellular communication transceiver of claim 9, wherein the vector data is employed by the location device along with vector data from at least one other cellular communication transceiver to define a crossfix location of the device.

11. The cellular communication transceiver of claim 9, wherein the location information is employed for the provision of geographically specific services.

12. The cellular communication transceiver of claim 1, wherein the beamformer is configured to utilize subscription codes to differentiate subscriber data, in an instance in which two or more subscriber signals are transmitted on a cellular communication spectrum channel.

13. The cellular communication transceiver of claim 1, wherein the plurality of aperture elements on the surface operate to provide information for directional processing by the beamformer in a plurality of azimuths and elevations.

14. The cellular communication transceiver of claim 1, wherein the beamformer is configured to process instructions at speeds of at least 10^13 instructions per second.

15. The cellular communication transceiver of claim 1, wherein the beamformer is further configured to generate a plurality of transmit beams in a plurality of transmit directions that are less than about 5 degrees apart and employ reuse of spectrum and other signal characteristics among the plurality of transmit beams formed by the beamformer.

16. The cellular communication transceiver of claim 1, wherein the surface comprises a plurality of surfaces of a plurality of entities.

17. The cellular communication transceiver of claim 1, wherein the surface comprises one or more interior surfaces of an occupiable structure.

18. The cellular communication transceiver of claim 1, wherein the beamformer is further configured to form the directional receive and transmit beams in coordination with a neighboring base station to limit beam crossing with a beam formed by the neighboring base station.

19. A cellular communication transceiver comprising:

an array comprising a plurality of aperture elements distributed over a plurality of surfaces of one or more entities, the aperture elements being configured to receive and transmit cellular communication signals from a cellular device substantially within the array;

a beamformer configured to apply a time domain beamforming process to the cellular communication signals to enable directional receive and transmit beams to be formed using the aperture elements, wherein forming the directional receive and transmit beams is based on temporal alignment values associated with the plurality of aperture elements, the temporal alignment values being determined via computation of relative locations of each of the aperture elements within the plurality of aperture elements, wherein the temporal alignment is also based on the a position and attitude of the surface over which the plurality of aperture elements are distributed; and

a telemetry subsystem operably coupling the aperture elements to the beamformer at the surface.

20. A cellular communication transceiver comprising:

an array comprising a plurality of aperture elements distributed over a surface, the aperture elements being configured to receive and transmit cellular communication signals;

a beamformer configured to apply a time domain beamforming process to the cellular communication signals to enable directional receive and transmit beams to be formed using the aperture elements, wherein forming the receive and transmit beams is based on temporal alignment values associated with the plurality of aperture elements, the temporal alignment values being determined via computation of relative locations of each of the aperture elements within the plurality of aperture elements, wherein the temporal alignment is also based on the a position and attitude of the surface over which the plurality of aperture elements are distributed;

a telemetry subsystem operably coupling the aperture elements to the beamformer; and

a spectrum coordinator configured to receive cellular communication spectrum channel usage data and provide beamformer channel data to limit cellular communication interference,

wherein directional transmit beams are formed based on the channel data.