Apparatus and method for channel estimation and echo cancellation in a wireless repeater

• US 20060040611A1
• Filed: 06/06/2005
• Published: 02/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Rensburg, Cornelius Van, Ding, Yinong, Cleveland, Joseph R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,596,352 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/11.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15585 by interference cancellation

Abstract

A system and method for channel estimation and echo cancellation in wireless system repeaters. A repeater with improved echo cancellation comprises an input radio control element having a receiving antenna and an output radio control element having a transmitting antenna; a power amplifier connected between the input radio control element and the output radio control element; and a signal processing unit connected between the input radio control element and the output radio control element. The signal processing unit is configured to estimate the communication channel from the transmitting antenna to the receiving antenna to produce a channel estimation. The signal processing unit is further configured to perform echo cancellation based on the channel estimation.

Claims

1. For use in a wireless network, a repeater with improved echo cancellation, comprising:

an input radio control element having a receiving antenna and an output radio control element having a transmitting antenna;

a power amplifier connected between the input radio control element and the output radio control element; and

a signal processing unit connected between the input radio control element and the output radio control element, the signal processing unit configured to estimate the communication channel from the transmitting antenna to the receiving antenna to produce a channel estimation, the signal processing unit further configured to perform echo cancellation based on the channel estimation.

2. The repeater of claim 1, further comprising a clock component configured to send timing signals to the input radio control unit, the output radio control unit, and the signal processing unit.

3. The repeater of claim 1, wherein the repeater receives a first signal and transmits a second signal, the second signal being substantially identical to the first signal.

4. The repeater of claim 3, wherein the signal processing unit wherein said second signal comprises a training signal added by said repeater, wherein said training signal is used to estimate the communication channel.

5. The repeater of claim 1, further comprising a low noise adapter connected between the input radio control unit and the output radio control unit.

6. The repeater of claim 1, wherein the input radio control element and output radio control element are frequency duplexers.

7. The repeater of claim 1, wherein the input radio control element and output radio control element are transmit/receive switches.

8. The repeater of claim 1, wherein an analog signal is converted to a digital signal, the digital signal being input to the signal processing unit.

9. The repeater of claim 1, wherein the output of the signal processing unit is a digital signal that is thereafter converted to an analog signal.

10. A method for processing a wireless signal in a repeater system, comprising:

receiving an input signal in a repeater having an input antenna and an output antenna;

performing a channel estimation of a channel between the input antenna and the output antenna;

performing an echo cancellation process according to the channel estimation and the input signal to produce a corrected signal; and

transmitting an output signal corresponding to the corrected signal.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising producing timing signals for use in transmitting the output signal.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the output signal is substantially identical to the first signal.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of transmitting an output signal comprises the sub-step of adding a training signal to the corrected signal, wherein the estimating process uses the training signal to estimate the channel.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising amplifying the output signal.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising converting the input signal from an analog signal to a digital signal.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising converting the corrected signal from a digital signal to an analog signal.

17. For use in a wireless network, a repeater with improved echo cancellation, comprising:

a donor antenna apparatus having a first donor antenna and a second donor antenna;

a server antenna apparatus having a first server antenna and a second server antenna; and

an electronic processing block connected to the donor antenna apparatus and the server antenna apparatus, wherein the second donor antenna is cross-polarized with the first donor antenna, and the second server antenna is cross-polarized with the first server antenna.

18. The repeater of claim 17, wherein the second donor antenna is co=polarized with the first server antenna, and the second server antenna is co-polarized with the first donor antenna.

19. The repeater of claim 17, wherein the electronic processing block includes an echo canceller connected to receive two input signals and to detect the amplitude and time delay of any echo between the two input signals.

20. The repeater of claim 17, wherein the electronic processing block includes a least-means-square echo detector..