SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT IN HETEROGENEOUS WIRELESS ACCESS NETWORK EMPLOYING BAND SELECTIVE POWER MANAGEMENT

• US 20120196611A1
• Filed: 04/04/2012
• Published: 08/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: VENKATRAMAN, SHANKAR, SHEIKH, KHURRAM P.
• Granted Patent: US 9,363,761 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/450
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/143 Downlink power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/343 taking into account loading or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/346 distributing total power among users or channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/42 in systems with time, space, frequency or polarisation diversity

Abstract

A system and method for enhancing the performance in heterogeneous wireless access networks employing a distributed antenna system is disclosed. A control unit comprises a distributed antenna system management server which collects load information from each of the carriers. The control unit further comprises a power management decision engine which determines the optimal downlink transmission power level for the carriers based on the collected load information and a set of parameters related to the power for the carriers. Power levels may decrease to baseline parameters when the load on carriers decreases.

Claims

1. A method for optimizing downlink transmission power of a distributed antenna system, comprising:

collecting individual carrier load information from a multi-carrier base station operating on a plurality of carriers; and

,

varying a downlink transmission power for at least one carrier of the plurality of carriers to a different value from at least one other carrier based on the collected carrier load information.

2. The method for optimizing the downlink transmission power of a distributed antenna system as set out in claim 1, wherein the varying the downlink transmission power further comprises:

determining whether a carrier of the plurality of carriers has a carrier load greater than a pre-defined threshold; and

,

increasing the downlink transmission power for the carrier having the carrier load greater than the predefined threshold.

3. The method for optimizing the downlink transmission power of a distributed antenna system as set out in claim 2, further comprising:

determining downlink transmission power operating parameters for the plurality of carriers; and

,

determining an available surplus increase of downlink transmission power for the carrier having the carrier load greater than the predefined threshold;

wherein increasing the downlink transmission power for the carrier having the carrier load greater than the predefined threshold further comprises increasing the downlink transmission power by an amount less than or equal to the determined available increase of downlink transmission power.

4. The method for optimizing the downlink transmission power of a distributed antenna system as set out in claim 3, wherein increasing the downlink transmission power further comprises:

determining a total available power level for the plurality of carriers;

determining a proportionality factor based on the downlink transmission power operating parameters and the collected carrier load information; and

,

determining the product of the total available power level and the proportionality factor.

5. The method for optimizing the downlink transmission power of a distributed antenna system as set out in claim 4, wherein determining the total available power level is based on the downlink transmission power operating parameters and the collected carrier load information.

6. The method for optimizing the downlink transmission power of a distributed antenna system as set out in claim 1, further comprising:

resetting the downlink transmission power to baseline values when the collected carrier load is less than a carrier load threshold.

7. The method for optimizing the downlink transmission power of a distributed antenna system as set out in claim 1, further comprising:

determining a time when a carrier having a carrier load exceeds a second pre-defined threshold; and

,

comparing the time when the carrier having a carrier load exceeds a second pre-defined load threshold to a temporal hysteresis threshold.

8. The method for optimizing the downlink transmission power of a distributed antenna system as set out in claim 1, further comprising generating a ranked list of carriers based on the collected carrier load information from a plurality of carriers.

9. The method for optimizing the downlink transmission power of a distributed antenna system as set out in claim 8, wherein varying a downlink transmission power further comprises varying a downlink transmission power for carriers ranked highest in the ranked list of carriers.

10. A wireless system, comprising:

a multi-carrier base station receiving multi-carrier communication signals having a plurality of carriers, the multi-carrier base station comprising one or more multi-carrier amplifier systems amplifying the multi-carrier communication signals;

one or more antennas coupled to the base station and providing a downlink signal; and

,

a power management control unit for varying a downlink transmission power for at least one carrier of the plurality of carriers to a different value from at least one other carrier.

11. The wireless system as set out in claim 10, wherein said power management control unit comprises a load collection means for collecting load information of the plurality of carriers and providing values of downlink transmission power levels to the multi-carrier amplifier systems.

12. The wireless system as set out in claim 11, wherein said load collection means is coupled to a network and collects load information from the network.

13. The wireless system as set out in claim 11, wherein said load collection means is coupled to the multi-carrier base station and collects load information from the multi-carrier base station.

14. The wireless system as set out in claim 11, wherein the control unit further comprises a power management decision engine configured for generating power level control signals to the carriers, wherein the power level control signals are based on the collected load information.

15. A wireless distributed antenna system, comprising:

a multi-carrier base station receiving multi-carrier communication signals having a plurality of carriers, the multi-carrier base station comprising one or more multi-carrier amplifier systems amplifying the multi-carrier communication signals;

a distributed antenna system having a plurality of separate antenna systems, the distributed antenna system coupled to the multi-carrier base station and providing a downlink signal; and

,

a control unit coupled to the multi-carrier base station and collecting load information of the plurality of carriers and providing different values of downlink transmission power to the multi-carrier amplifier systems.

16. The wireless system of claim 15, wherein the control unit is further configured for collecting the load information from the multi-carrier base station.

17. The wireless system of claim 15, wherein the control unit is further configured for collecting the load information from a network.

18. The wireless system of claim 15, wherein the control unit further comprising:

a distributed antenna system management server collecting load information from the plurality of carriers; and

a power management decision engine generating power level control signals to the carrier.

19. The wireless system of claim 18, wherein the power management decision engine is configured for determining the power level control signals based on the collected load information and downlink power operating parameters.

20. The wireless system of claim 15, further comprising:

a second multi-carrier base station receiving second multi-carrier communication signals having a plurality of second carriers, the second multi-carrier base station comprising one or more second amplifiers amplifying the second multi-carrier communication signals; and

,

a second distributed antenna system having a plurality of second separate antenna systems, the second distributed antenna system coupled to the second multi-carrier base station and providing a second downlink signal;

wherein the control unit is coupled to the second multi-carrier base station and collects load information from the plurality of second carriers and provides values of downlink transmission power to the plurality of second carriers.