Wireless packet switched communication systems and networks using adaptively steered antenna arrays

• US 20030020651A1
• Filed: 09/04/2002
• Published: 01/30/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: XR Communications, LLC
• Original Assignee: Vivato, Inc. (Vivato Networks, LLC)
• Inventors: Biba, Ken, Conley, Robert J., Crilly, William J. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 6,970,682 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/378
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/74 Systems using reradiation of radio waves, e.g. secondary radar systems; Analogous systems
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/521 reducing the coupling between adjacent antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/525 between emitting and receiving antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/24 Combinations of antenna units polarised in different directions for transmitting or receiving circularly and elliptically polarised waves or waves linearly polarised in any direction circularly polarised patch antennas H01Q9/0428; circularly polarised horns H01Q13/0241; cross-polarised horns H01Q13/0258; polarisation converters H01Q15/242; cross-polarised rear feeds H01Q19/136; crossed polarisation dual antenna H01Q25/001
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/2605 Array of radiating elements provided with a feedback control over the element weights, e.g. adaptive arrays
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/2611 Means for null steering; Adaptive interference nulling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0023 Time-frequency-space
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0028 Variable division signaling therefor H04L5/0092
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/06 based on characteristics of available antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/08 based on transmission power
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/14 Backbone network devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 370/902 Packet switching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 370/903 Osi compliant network
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 370/905 Asynchronous transfer mode, ASN
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 370/913 Wireless or radio

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses and systems are provided for use in a wireless routing network. One apparatus, for example, includes an adaptive antenna that is configurable to receive a transmission signal from a transmitter and in response transmit corresponding outgoing multi-beam electromagnetic signals exhibiting a plurality of selectively placed transmission peaks and transmission nulls within a far field region of a coverage area. The adaptive antenna may also be configured to selectively receive at least one incoming electromagnetic signal directed through the coverage area. The adaptive antenna includes at least one antenna array and logic. The antenna array has a plurality of antenna elements. The logic is operatively coupled to the antenna array and configured to selectively control the placement of the transmission peaks and transmission nulls within the outgoing multi-beam electromagnetic signals. The logic may also be configured to selectively control the reception of at least one incoming electromagnetic signal. The logic is configured to be responsive to routing information. Such routing information may be dynamically maintained in one or more routing tables.

Claims

1. An apparatus for use in a wireless routing network, the apparatus comprising an adaptive antenna configurable to receive a transmission signal from a transmitter and in response transmit corresponding outgoing multi-beam electromagnetic signals exhibiting a plurality of selectively placed transmission peaks and transmission nulls within a far field region of a coverage area.

2. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said adaptive antenna is further configured to selectively receive at least one incoming electromagnetic signal directed through said coverage area.

3. The apparatus as recited in claim 2, wherein said adaptive antenna includes at least one antenna array comprising a plurality of antenna elements, and logic operatively coupled to said antenna array and configured to selectively control said placement of transmission peaks and transmission nulls within said outgoing multi-beam electromagnetic signals, and selectively control said reception of said at least one incoming electromagnetic signal.

4. The apparatus as recited in claim 3, wherein said logic is responsive to routing information in selectively controlling said placement of transmission peaks and transmission nulls within said outgoing multi-beam electromagnetic signals, and selectively controlling said reception of said at least one incoming electromagnetic signal.

5. The apparatus as recited in claim 4, wherein at least a portion of said routing information is dynamically determined and maintained by said logic.

6. The apparatus as recited in claim 5, wherein said routing information includes at least one form of routing information selected from a group of routing information comprising transmit power level information, transmit data rate information, antenna pointing direction information, weighting information, constraints information, transmission null location information, transmission peak location information, Quality of Service (QoS) information, priority information, data packet lifetime information, frequency information, timing information, and keep out area information.

7. The apparatus as recited in claim 4, wherein at least a portion of said routing information is stored in at least one routing table by said logic.

8. The apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein said routing table includes at least one form of routing information selected from a group of routing information comprising IP address information, MAC address information, protocol identifying information, modulation method identifying information, Connection ID (CID) information, node directional information, node transmit power level information, node received signal strength indicator (RSSI) level information, transmit channel information, backup transmit channel information, receive channel information, backup receive channel information, transmission data rate information, receive data rate information, and interference nulling information.

9. The apparatus as recited in claim 4, wherein said logic maintains weighting values within said routing information, said weighting values being associated with a selected weighting pattern that is applied to selectively control said placement of transmission peaks and transmission nulls within said outgoing multi-beam electromagnetic signals, and further configured to selectively control said reception of said at least one incoming electromagnetic signal.

10. The apparatus as recited in claim 9, wherein said weighting values w(z) are associated with a polynomial expansion w(z)=w₀+w₁z+w₂z²+w₃z³+w₄z⁴+ . . . +w_izⁱ.

11. The apparatus as recited in claim 10, wherein said weighting values define at least one zero of said polynomial expansion, said at least one zero being associated with a direction that a transmission null is selectively placed.

12. The apparatus as recited in claim 4, wherein said logic further includes a search receiver configured to determine at least one transmission constraint based at least in part on said received signal, said transmission constraint being included in said routing information.

13. The apparatus as recited in claim 4, wherein said logic further includes a scheduler configured to establish at least one traffic schedule based at least in part on said routing information.

14. The apparatus as recited in claim 13, wherein said routing information further includes transmission demand information.

15. The apparatus as recited in claim 13, wherein said scheduler is further configured to establish said at least one traffic schedule by determining at least one assignment for an outgoing data transmission.

16. The apparatus as recited in claim 15, wherein the scheduler includes COordinate Rotation DIgital Computer (CORDIC)-based transforming resources that are configurable to be applied to a combined angular, frequency and time arrangement of outgoing electromagnetic signals in establishing said assignment.

17. The apparatus as recited in claim 15, wherein said routing information includes at least one form of routing information selected from a group comprising Quality of Service (QoS) information, subscriber information, queue information, peak data rate information, sustained data rate information, latency information, and isochronous performance information.

18. The apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein said logic further includes a scheduler and said routing table further includes at least one primitive routine that is configured to support said scheduler.

19. The apparatus as recited in claim 4, wherein said logic is configured to allow said transmitter and said receiver to operate simultaneously.

20. An apparatus for use in a wireless routing network, the apparatus comprising:

at least one transmitter configured to receive a data signal and in response output a corresponding transmission signal; and

at least one adaptive antenna operatively coupled to said at least one transmitter and configured to receive said transmission signal and in response transmit corresponding outgoing multi-beam electromagnetic signals exhibiting a plurality of selectively placed transmission peaks and transmission nulls within a far field region of a coverage area.

21. The apparatus as recited in claim 20, wherein said at least one adaptive antenna is further configured to selectively receive at least one incoming electromagnetic signal directed through said coverage area, and further comprising:

at least one receiver operatively coupled to said at least one adaptive antenna and configured to convert said at least one incoming electromagnetic signal into a corresponding received signal.

22. The apparatus as recited in claim 21, wherein said adaptive antenna includes:

at least one antenna array comprising a plurality of antenna elements; and

logic operatively coupled to said antenna array, said at least one transmitter and said at least one receiver, and configured to selectively control said placement of transmission peaks and transmission nulls within said outgoing multi-beam electromagnetic signals, and further configured to selectively control said reception of said at least one incoming electromagnetic signal.

23. The apparatus as recited in claim 22, wherein said logic is responsive to routing information in selectively controlling said placement of transmission peaks and transmission nulls within said outgoing multi-beam electromagnetic signals, and selectively controlling said reception of said at least one incoming electromagnetic signal.

24. The apparatus as recited in claim 23, wherein at least a portion of said routing information is dynamically determined and maintained by said logic.

25. The apparatus as recited in claim 24, wherein said routing information includes at least one form of routing information selected from a group of routing information comprising transmit power level information, transmit data rate information, antenna pointing direction information, weighting information, constraints information, transmission null location information, transmission peak location information, Quality of Service (QoS) information, priority information, data packet lifetime information, frequency information, timing information, and keep out area information.

26. The apparatus as recited in claim 23, wherein at least a portion of said routing information is stored in a routing table by said logic.

27. The apparatus as recited in claim 26, wherein said routing table includes at least one form of routing information selected from a group of routing information comprising IP address information, MAC address information, protocol identifying information, modulation method identifying information, Connection ID (CID) information, node directional information, node transmit power level information, node received signal strength indicator (RSSI) level information, transmit channel information, backup transmit channel information, receive channel information, backup receive channel information, transmission data rate information, receive data rate information, and interference nulling information.

28. The apparatus as recited in claim 23, wherein said logic maintains weighting values within said routing information, said weighting values being associated with a selected weighting pattern that is applied to selectively control said placement of transmission peaks and transmission nulls within said outgoing multi-beam electromagnetic signals, and further configured to selectively control said reception of said at least one incoming electromagnetic signal.

29. The apparatus as recited in claim 28, wherein said weighting values w(z) are associated with a polynomial expansion w(z)=w₀+w₁z+w₂z²+w₃z³+w₄z⁴+ . . . +w_izⁱ.

30. The apparatus as recited in claim 29, wherein said weighting values define at least one zero of said polynomial expansion, said at least one zero being associated with a direction that a transmission null is selectively placed.

31. The apparatus as recited in claim 23, wherein said transmitter and said adaptive antenna are operatively configured to produce said outgoing multi-beam electromagnetic signals based on a determined spatial environment parameters associated with said coverage area and as maintained in said routing information.

32. The apparatus as recited in claim 23, wherein said logic further includes a search receiver configured to determine at least one transmission constraint based at least in part on said received signal, said transmission constraint being included in said routing information.

33. The apparatus as recited in claim 23, wherein said logic further includes a scheduler configured to establish at least one traffic schedule based at least in part on said routing information.

34. The apparatus as recited in claim 33, wherein said routing information further includes transmission demand information.

35. The apparatus as recited in claim 34, wherein said transmission demand information includes at least one form of transmission demand information selected from a set comprising incoming transmission demand information and outgoing transmission demand information.

36. The apparatus as recited in claim 35, wherein said incoming transmission demand information is associated with at least one transmission queue maintained by an externally located device and said outgoing transmission demand information is associated with at least one transmission queue internal to said apparatus.

37. The apparatus as recited in claim 36, wherein said at least one transmission queue is associated with a Quality of Service (QoS) parameter.

38. The apparatus as recited in claim 23, wherein said scheduler is further configured to establish said at least one traffic schedule by determining at least one assignment for an outgoing data transmission.

39. The apparatus as recited in claim 38, wherein said logic further includes COordinate Rotation DIgital Computer (CORDIC)-based transforming resources that are configurable to be applied to a combined angular, frequency and time arrangement of outgoing electromagnetic signals in establishing said assignment

40. The apparatus as recited in claim 38, wherein the scheduler is further configured to control the CORDIC-based transforming resources.

41. The apparatus as recited in claim 38, wherein said routing information includes at least one form of routing information selected from a group comprising Quality of Service (QoS) information, subscriber information, queue information, peak data rate information, sustained data rate information, latency information, and isochronous performance information.

42. The apparatus as recited in claim 26, wherein said logic further includes a scheduler and said routing table further includes at least one primitive routine that is configured to support said scheduler.

43. The apparatus as recited in claim 23, wherein said logic is configured to allow said transmitter and said receiver to operate simultaneously.

44. The apparatus as recited in claim 43, wherein said transmitter and said receiver to operate simultaneously within non-overlapping frequency bands.

45. The apparatus as recited in claim 43, wherein said transmitter and said receiver to operate simultaneously within a single frequency band.

46. The apparatus as recited in claim 45, wherein said logic is further configured to reduce interference from said transmitter by detecting and significantly removing unwanted coupling that occurs at said antenna array.

47. The apparatus as recited in claim 45, wherein said antenna array is included in at least one panel having a plurality of elements arranged therein, each of said plurality of elements being selectively configurable by said logic for use by said transmitter or said receiver.

48. The apparatus as recited in claim 45, wherein said antenna array includes a first element arranged to provide a first polarization and a second element arranged to provide a second polarization that is different than the first polarization.

49. The apparatus as recited in claim 21, further comprising:

at least one communication interface operatively coupled to said at least one transmitter and said at least one receiver and configurable to provide connectivity to at least one external device.

50. The apparatus as recited in claim 49, wherein said at least one communication interface is configurable to provide connectivity to the Internet.

51. The apparatus as recited in claim 21, wherein said transmitter and said receiver are each configured to operate according to at least one communication scheme selected from a group of communication schemes comprising a request to send (RTS)/clear to send (CTS) scheme, a time division duplex (TDD) scheme, a frequency division duplex (FDD) scheme, a frequency simplex division duplex (FSDD) scheme, a time division multiple access (TDMA) scheme, an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing modulation (OFDM) scheme, an orthogonal frequency division multiple Access (OFDMA) scheme, quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), and a spread spectrum scheme.

52. A wireless routing network system comprising:

at least one wireless routing device having at least one transmitter configured to receive a data signal and output a corresponding transmission signal and at least one adaptive antenna operatively coupled to said at least one transmitter and configured to receive said transmission signal and in response transmit corresponding outgoing multi-beam electromagnetic signals exhibiting a plurality of selectively placed transmission peaks and transmission nulls within a far field region of a coverage area; and

at least one client premise equipment (CPE) device operatively configured to receive said outgoing multi-beam electromagnetic signals.

53. The system as recited in claim 52, wherein said at least one adaptive antenna is further configured to selectively receive at least one incoming electromagnetic signal directed through said coverage area, and said at least one wireless routing device further includes at least one receiver operatively coupled to said at least one adaptive antenna and configured to convert said at least one incoming electromagnetic signal into a corresponding received signal.

54. The system as recited in claim 53, wherein said adaptive antenna includes at least one antenna array comprising a plurality of antenna elements, and logic operatively coupled to said antenna array, said at least one transmitter and said at least one receiver, and configured to selectively control said placement of transmission peaks and transmission nulls within said outgoing multi-beam electromagnetic signals, and further configured to selectively control said reception of said at least one incoming electromagnetic signal.

55. The system as recited in claim 54, wherein said selectively control said placement of transmission peaks and transmission nulls within said outgoing multi-beam electromagnetic signals and said selective control of said reception of said at least one incoming electromagnetic signal is operatively associated with one adaptive antenna array.

56. The system as recited in claim 54, wherein said logic is responsive to routing information in selectively controlling said placement of transmission peaks and transmission nulls within said outgoing multi-beam electromagnetic signals, and selectively controlling said reception of said at least one incoming electromagnetic signal.

57. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure, comprising:

indexing data fields containing data representing identifiers associated with different communicating nodes; and

weighting data fields containing data representing communication weighting values associated with corresponding indexing data fields.

58. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 57, wherein each of said identifiers associated with different communicating nodes is selected from a group of node identifiers comprising connection identifiers (CIDs) and network addresses.

59. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 57, wherein each of said weighting values in said weighting data fields associated with said corresponding indexing data fields is based on a polynomial expansion w(z)=w₀+w₁z+w₂z²+w₃z³+w₄z⁴+ . . . +w_izⁱ.

60. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 57, further comprising at least one data field containing routing information selected from a group of routing information comprising transmit power level information, transmit data rate information, antenna pointing direction information, weighting information, constraints information, transmission null location information, transmission peak location information, Quality of Service (QoS) information, priority information, data packet lifetime information, frequency information, timing information, keep out area information, node directional information, node transmit power level information, node received signal strength indicator (RSSI) level information, transmit channel information, backup transmit channel information, receive channel information, backup receive channel information, transmission data rate information, receive data rate information, interference nulling information, subscriber information, queue information, peak data rate information, sustained data rate information, latency information, and isochronous performance information.

61. A method for use in a wireless routing device that is operatively configured within a request to send (RTS)/clear to send (CTS) wireless routing network, the method comprising:

determining if there is a potential for interference with neighboring nodes prior to transmitting an CTS message; and

if there is no significant potential for interfering with said neighboring nodes, then transmitting said CTS message to a targeted node using a narrow beam,

otherwise, if there is a significant potential for interfering with one or more of said neighboring nodes, then transmitting said CTS message to said targeted node and said one or more of said neighboring nodes using one or more beams.

62. The method as recited in claim 61, wherein if there is a significant potential for interfering with a significant plurality of said neighboring nodes, then transmitting said CTS message to said targeted node and said significant plurality of said neighboring nodes using an omnidirectional transmission pattern.

63. A delayed cancellation method for use in a wireless routing device, the method comprising:

causing a transmitter to transmit a plurality of tones through at least one transmitting antenna element;

measuring coupling between said at least one transmitting antenna element and at least one co-located receiving antenna element associated with said transmission of said plurality of tones; and

canceling tones in a receiver operatively coupled to said at least one receiving antenna element based on said measured coupling.

64. The method as recited in claim 63, further comprising:

canceling tones in said receiver based on a non-linear amplifier model.

65. The method as recited in claim 63, wherein said plurality of tones includes OFDM tones.

66. A delayed cancellation method for use in a wireless routing device, the method comprising:

during a testing phase,

causing a transmitter to transmit a plurality of tones through at least one transmitting antenna element, and

determining a scale factor for each of said plurality of tones based on detected coupling between said at least one transmitting antenna element and at least one co-located receiving antenna element;

during a operating phase,

causing said transmitter to output a transmission signal to said at least one transmitting antenna element,

tapping said transmission signal that is applied to said at least one transmitting antenna element,

applying said determined scale factors to said tapped transmission signal, and

combining said resulting scaled tapped transmission signal with a signal received through said at least one receiving antenna element such that unwanted coupling in a resulting received signal is significantly reduced.

67. The method as recited in claim 66, wherein said plurality of tones includes OFDM tones.

68. A delayed cancellation apparatus for use in a wireless routing device, the apparatus comprising:

an antenna configuration having at least one transmitting antenna element and at least one co-located receiving antenna element;

a transmitter operatively coupled to said at least one transmitting antenna element and configured to transmit a plurality of tones through said at least one transmitting antenna element during a testing phase and subsequently output a transmission signal to said at least one transmitting antenna element during a operating phase;

a receiver operatively coupled to said at least one receiving antenna element;

logic operatively coupled to said transmitter and said receiver and configured to;

determine a scale factor for each of said plurality of tones based on detected coupling between said at least one transmitting antenna element and said at least one receiving antenna element during said testing phase,

tap said transmission signal that is applied to said at least one transmitting antenna element during said operating phase,

apply said determined scale factors to said tapped transmission signal, and

combine said resulting scaled tapped transmission signal with a signal received by said receiver through said at least one receiving antenna element such that unwanted coupling in a resulting received signal is significantly reduced.

69. A delayed cancellation method for use in a wireless routing device, the method comprising:

during a testing phase,

causing a transmitter to transmit a plurality of tones through at least one transmitting antenna element, and

determining a scale factor for each of said plurality of tones based on detected coupling between said at least one transmitting antenna element and at least one co-located receiving antenna element;

during a operating phase,

causing said transmitter to output a transmission signal to said at least one transmitting antenna element,

tapping said transmission signal that is applied to said at least one transmitting antenna element,

applying said determined scale factors to said tapped transmission signal, and

combining said resulting scaled tapped transmission signal with said transmission signal such that unwanted coupling in a signal received by said at least one receiving antenna element is significantly reduced.

70. The method as recited in claim 69, wherein said plurality of tones includes OFDM tones.

71. A delayed cancellation apparatus for use in a wireless routing device, the apparatus comprising:

an antenna configuration having at least one transmitting antenna element and at least one co-located receiving antenna element;

a transmitter operatively coupled to said at least one transmitting antenna element and configured to transmit a plurality of tones through said at least one transmitting antenna element during a testing phase and subsequently output a transmission signal to said at least one transmitting antenna element during a operating phase;

a receiver operatively coupled to said at least one receiving antenna element;

logic operatively coupled to said transmitter and said receiver and configured to;

determine a scale factor for each of said plurality of tones based on detected coupling between said at least one transmitting antenna element and said at least one receiving antenna element during said testing phase,

tap said transmission signal that is applied to said at least one transmitting antenna element during said operating phase,

apply said determined scale factors to said tapped transmission signal, and

combine said resulting scaled tapped transmission signal with said transmission signal such that unwanted coupling in a signal received by said receiver through said at least one receiving antenna element is significantly reduced.

72. A reciprocal feedback method for use in a wireless routing network, the method comprising:

at a first wireless routing device, measuring an unwanted signal from a second wireless routing device;

causing said first wireless routing device to provide information associated with said measured unwanted signal to said second wireless routing device; and

causing said second wireless routing device to adaptively apply a transmission null in a direction towards said first wireless routing device based on said information associated with said measured unwanted signal, such that subsequent transmissions by sad second wireless routing device will be substantially reduced in said direction towards said first wireless routing device.

73. A search receiver method for use in a wireless routing network, the method comprising:

processing an signal received by at least one antenna array to corresponding produce element domain values;

converting said element domain values into corresponding pattern domain values;

estimating channel data and calculating total power based on said pattern domain values;

cross-correlating header information using said estimated channel data;

extracting system signal parameters based on said cross-correlation header information;

conducting a division process using said calculated total power and said cross-correlation header information;

extracting non-system signal parameters from resultant data from said division process;

determining weighting values based on said extracted system signal parameters and said extracted non-system signal parameters; and

storing said weighting values for subsequent use during signal transmission.

74. The method as recited in claim 73, further comprising:

storing said weighting values for subsequent use during signal reception.

75. The method as recited in claim 73, wherein said division process includes a Wiener filter division process:

76. An antenna array comprising at least one panel having a plurality of antenna elements arranged therein, and at least one barrier arranged between at least two of said plurality of antenna elements and configured to reduce coupling between said at least two antenna elements when one of said at least two antenna elements is transmitting and another one of said at least two antenna elements is receiving.

77. The antenna array as recited in claim 76, wherein said barrier includes an electromagnetic energy reflecting material.

78. The antenna array as recited in claim 76, wherein said barrier includes an electromagnetic energy absorbing material.

79. The antenna array as recited in claim 78, wherein said barrier includes an electromagnetic energy reflecting material arranged at least partially within said electromagnetic energy absorbing material.

80. The antenna array as recited in claim 76, further comprising a plurality of barriers arranged about one or more portions of said at least one panel.