WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION METHOD

• US 20130208619A1
• Filed: 11/15/2011
• Published: 08/15/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
• Inventors: Kudo, Riichi, Matsui, Munehiro, Murakami, Tomoki, Ichikawa, Takeo, Asai, Yusuke, Ishihara, Koichi, Yamada, Tomoyuki, Mizoguchi, Masato
• Granted Patent: US 9,276,652 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0452 Multi-user MIMO systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0617 for beam forming
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0632 Channel quality parameters, e.g. channel quality indicator [CQI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0023 Time-frequency-space
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0057 Physical resource allocation for CQI
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/28 using beam steering
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports

Abstract

Communication quality is prevented from being deteriorated due to interference caused by low accuracy of channel information or interference from another base station or another wireless communication system. A wireless communication system includes a first wireless station including a plurality of antenna elements, transmission units corresponding to the plurality of antenna elements, and a transmission directivity control unit that controls transmission directivity of the plurality of antenna elements, and a plurality of second wireless stations each including a reception power measurement unit that measures a reception power. The transmission directivity control unit determines the transmission directivity of each of the plurality of antenna elements so that a signal does not reach a particular second wireless station among the plurality of second wireless stations. The transmission units generate wireless signals using the transmission directivity. The plurality of antenna elements transmit the generated wireless signals. The reception power measurement unit measures the reception power in a period that is set so that a signal does not reach the particular second wireless station, and detect the presence or absence of interference.

Claims

1. A wireless communication system comprising:

a first wireless station including a plurality of antenna elements, transmission units corresponding to the plurality of antenna elements, and a transmission directivity control unit that controls transmission directivity of the plurality of antenna elements; and

a plurality of second wireless stations each including a reception power measurement unit that measures a reception power,

wherein the transmission directivity control unit of the first wireless station determines the transmission directivity of each of the plurality of antenna elements so that a signal does not reach a particular second wireless station among the plurality of second wireless stations,

the transmission units generate wireless signals using the transmission directivity,

the plurality of antenna elements transmit the generated wireless signals, and

the reception power measurement unit of the particular second wireless station measures the reception power in a period that is set so that a signal does not reach the particular second wireless station, and detects the presence or absence of interference.

2. The wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein the transmission directivity control unit periodically switches the particular second wireless station.

3. The wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein the transmission directivity control unit determines the particular second wireless station based on the numbers of times a packet was not delivered in a given period in the plurality of second wireless stations.

4. The wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein the transmission directivity control unit determines the particular second wireless station based on error rates in the plurality of second wireless stations.

5. The wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein the transmission directivity control unit determines, as the particular second wireless station, a second wireless station for which application data to be transmitted is not stored among the plurality of second wireless stations.

6. The wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein the particular second wireless station further includes:

an interference estimation unit that estimates an interference amount; and

a transmission unit that transmits the interference amount estimated by the interference estimation unit to the first wireless station, and

the first wireless station determines at least one of a modulation scheme, a coding rate, or wireless stations with which transmission and reception are performed simultaneously through spatial multiplexing, and a frequency channel to be used, based on the interference amount.

7. The wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of second wireless stations each include:

a plurality of antenna elements; and

reception power measurement units corresponding to the plurality of antenna elements.

8. A wireless communication method in which wireless communication is performed between a first wireless station including a plurality of antenna elements, transmission units corresponding to the plurality of antenna elements, and a transmission directivity control unit that controls transmission directivity of the plurality of antenna element, and a plurality of second wireless stations each including a reception power measurement unit that measures a reception power, the method comprising:

a step of determining, using the transmission directivity control unit in the first wireless station, the transmission directivity of each of the plurality of antenna elements so that a signal does not reach a particular second wireless station among the plurality of second wireless stations;

a step of generating, using the transmission units in the first wireless station, wireless signals using the determined transmission directivity, and transmitting the generated wireless signals from the plurality of antenna elements; and

a step of measuring, using the reception power measurement unit in the particular second wireless station, the reception power in a period that is set so that a signal does not reach the particular second wireless station, and detecting the presence or absence of interference.

9. A wireless communication system in which a base station performs simultaneous communication of data with a plurality of terminals using the same frequency,

the base station comprising:

a data selection/generation unit that generates the data;

a null signal terminal determination unit that determines, when there is a terminal for which an interference power needs to be evaluated, the terminal as a null signal terminal;

a first reception unit that receives a signal transmitted from the null signal terminal and acquires interference power information;

a transmission method determination unit that determines a transmission weight, a modulation scheme, and a coding scheme based on channel information of a terminal that is a communication party and the interference power information acquired from the null signal terminal;

a data selection/output unit that selects transmission data destined for the terminal that is the communication party from among data to be transmitted and outputs the transmission data; and

a first transmission unit that transmits the transmission data using the determined modulation scheme, coding scheme, and transmission weight, and

each of the terminals comprising;

a second reception unit that receives the transmission data as a reception signal;

a reception signal demodulation unit that performs detection, synchronization, and decoding of the reception signal;

a null signal determination unit that determines that each of the terminals itself is the null signal terminal based on an output of the reception signal demodulation unit;

an interference power evaluation unit that measures a reception power of a null signal portion and records the reception power as an interference power when each of the terminals itself is determined to be the null signal terminal; and

a second transmission unit that modulates, codes, and transmits information on the interference power.

10. The wireless communication system according to claim 9, wherein the null signal terminal determination unit in the base station determines, as the null signal terminal, a terminal communicating with another base station adjacent to the base station, and

the second transmission unit in each of the terminals modulates and codes the information on the interference power and transmits resultant information to the base station communicating with each of the terminals.

11. The wireless communication system according to claim 9 wherein the null signal determination unit determines that each of the terminals itself is the null signal terminal when a reception signal power of a data portion is smaller than a reception power of a pilot portion by an amount that is greater than or equal to a predetermined reference.

12. The wireless communication system according to claim 9, wherein the base station includes:

a null signal ID notification unit that assigns a bit for specifying the null signal terminal as a null signal ID to a pilot signal in advance, and notifies a terminal as a candidate for the null signal terminal of the corresponding null signal ID;

a downlink transmission unit that specifies the null signal ID when the pilot signal is added to the transmission data; and

a null signal determination unit that determines that each of the terminals itself is the null signal terminal based on the null signal ID specified by the pilot signal of the reception signal.

13. The wireless communication system according to claim 9, wherein the null signal terminal determination unit specifies another base station as the null signal terminal.

14. The wireless communication system according to claim 9, wherein the null signal terminal determination unit specifies, as the null signal terminal, a terminal that has not been selected as the null signal terminal for a given period, a terminal that has not performed multiplexing communication with a plurality of terminals using the same frequency for a given period, or a terminal that has not been able to successfully perform communication when performing multiplexing communication with a plurality of terminals using the same frequency.

15. The wireless communication system according to claim 9, wherein the interference power evaluation unit measures the reception power of the null signal portion at two or more timings, and records information on an increase amount of the interference power, and

the second transmission unit modulates, codes, and transmits information on the interference power and the information on the increase amount of the interference power or information on an interference power obtained by applying a function to the interference power and the increase amount of the interference power.

16. The wireless communication system according to claim 15, wherein the data selection/output unit calculates a duration in which the interference power does not exceed a predetermined maximum interference power based on the information on the interference power and the information on the increase amount of the interference power estimated for a terminal, and determines the maximum data length that is able to be set for the terminal.