RADIO SYSTEM FOR LONG-RANGE HIGH SPEED WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

• US 20140225788A1
• Filed: 02/10/2014
• Published: 08/14/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ubiquiti Inc.
• Original Assignee: Ubiquiti Networks, Inc. (Ubiquiti Inc.)
• Inventors: Schulz, Gary, Sanford, John, Lascari, Lance, Fay, Christopher, Keniuk, Richard, Lee, Jude, Macenski, Charles
• Granted Patent: US 9,733,797 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 343/702
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/1228 on a boom
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 15/147 provided with means for controlling or monitoring the shape of the reflecting surface for scanning H01Q3/01; aerials or aerial systems providing multiple beamwidths H01Q25/002
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 19/193 with feed supported subreflector splash plate feeds H01Q19/134
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/28 Combinations of substantially independent non-interacting antenna units or systems multiple beam H01Q25/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49016 Antenna or wave energy "plumbing" making

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention provides a radio assembly. The radio assembly includes an antenna housing unit that houses a pair of reflectors which are situated on a front side of the antenna housing unit, a printed circuit board (PCB) that includes at least a transmitter and a receiver, and a backside cover. The PCB is situated within a cavity at a backside of the antenna housing unit and the backside cover covers the cavity, thereby enclosing the PCB within the antenna housing unit. One embodiment of the present invention provides a user interface for configuring a radio. The user interface includes a display and a number of selectable tabs presented on the display. A selection of a respective tab results in a number of user-editable fields being displayed, thereby facilitating a user in configuring and monitoring operations of the radio.

Claims

1. A radio assembly, comprising:

an antenna housing unit that houses a pair of reflectors, wherein the pair of reflectors are situated on a front side of the antenna housing unit;

a printed circuit board (PCB) comprising at least a transmitter and a receiver, wherein the PCB is situated within a cavity at a backside of the antenna housing unit; and

a backside cover that covers the cavity, thereby enclosing the PCB within the antenna housing unit.

2. The radio assembly of claim 1, wherein the transmitter is coupled to a first reflector of the pair of reflectors, wherein the receiver is coupled to a second reflector of the pair of reflectors, and wherein the transmitter is electronically isolated from the receiver.

3. The radio assembly of claim 2, wherein the transmitter and the receiver can be configured to operate in one of:

a full-duplex mode; and

a half-duple mode.

4. The radio assembly of claim 1, wherein the pair of reflectors are formed using a single mold.

5. The radio assembly of claim 1,

wherein the pair of reflectors includes a pair of parabolic shaped reflecting surfaces.

6. The radio assembly of claim 5, wherein at least a portion of profiles of the pair of parabolic shaped reflecting surfaces overlap.

7. The radio assembly of claim 5, wherein the parabolic shaped reflecting surfaces have different diameters, and wherein a reflector with a larger diameter is coupled to the receiver.

8. The radio assembly of claim 1, further comprising a pair of feed antennas that are coupled to the transmitter and the receiver.

9. The radio assembly of claim 1, further comprising a mounting unit for mounting the radio assembly onto a pole, wherein the mounting unit is coupled to the backside of the antenna housing unit.

10. The radio assembly of claim 9, wherein the mounting unit includes:

an azimuth-adjustment mechanism for adjusting the reflectors'"'"' azimuth; and

an elevation-adjustment mechanism for adjusting the reflectors'"'"' elevation.

11. The radio assembly of claim 1, wherein the PCB further comprises a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) chip coupled to the transmitter and the receiver.

12. The radio assembly of claim 11, wherein the PCB further comprises a central processing unit (CPU) coupled to the FPGA chip.

13. The radio assembly of claim 11, further comprising an Ethernet transceiver coupled to the FPGA chip.

14. The radio assembly of claim 1, wherein the PCB further comprises a GPS receiver.

15. The radio assembly of claim 1, wherein the transmitter further comprises a quadrature modulator for modulating transmitted signals.

16. The radio assembly of claim 15, wherein the transmitter further comprises an IQ alignment module for automatic alignment of inphase and quadrature components of transmitted signals.

17. The radio assembly of claim 1, wherein the transmitter and the receiver are configured to operate in a license-free 24 GHz frequency band.

18. A user interface for configuring a radio, comprising:

a display; and

a number of selectable tabs presented on the display, wherein a selection of a respective tab results in a number of user-editable fields being displayed, thereby facilitating a user in configuring and monitoring operations of the radio.

19. The user interface of claim 18, wherein the selectable tabs include a main tab, which displays current values of a plurality of configuration settings of the radio and traffic status for a link associated with the radio.

20. The user interface of claim 18, wherein the selectable tabs include a wireless tab, which enables the user to set a plurality of parameters for a wireless link associated with the radio.

21. The user interface of claim 20, wherein the plurality of parameters include at least one of:

a wireless mode of the radio;

a duplex mode for the wireless link;

a transmitting frequency;

a receiving frequency;

a transmitting output power;

a current modulation rate; and

a gain setting for a receiving antenna.

22. The user interface of claim 18, wherein the selectable tabs include a network tab, which enables the user to configure settings for a management network associated with the radio.

23. The user interface of claim 18, wherein the selectable tabs include a services tab, which enables the user to configure management services associated with the radio.

24. The user interface of claim 23, wherein the management services include at least one of:

a ping service;

a Simple Network Monitor Protocol (SNMP) agent;

a web server;

a Secure Shell (SSH) server;

a Telnet server;

a Network Time Protocol (NTP) client service;

a dynamic Domain Name System (DNS);

a system log service; and

a device discovery service.

25. The user interface of claim 18, wherein the selectable tabs include a system tab, which enables the user to perform at least one of the following operations:

reboot the radio;

update firmware;

manage a user account; and

save or upload a configuration file.

26. A method for forming a radio, comprising:

placing a pair of reflectors on a front side of an antenna housing unit;

placing a printed circuit board (PCB) comprising at least a transmitter and a receiver within a cavity at a backside of the antenna housing unit; and

placing a backside cover over the cavity, thereby enclosing the PCB within the antenna housing unit.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

coupling the transmitter to a first reflector of the pair of reflectors; and

coupling the receiver to a second reflector of the pair of reflectors;

wherein the transmitter and the receiver are electronically isolated from each other.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising configuring the transmitter and the receiver to operate in one of:

a full-duplex mode; and

a half-duple mode.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein the pair of reflectors are formed using a single mold.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein the pair of reflectors includes a pair of parabolic shaped reflecting surfaces.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein at least a portion of profiles of the pair of parabolic shaped reflecting surfaces overlap.

32. The method of claim 26, wherein the transmitter further comprises a quadrature modulator for modulating transmitted signals.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the transmitter further comprises an IQ alignment module for automatic alignment of inphase and quadrature components of transmitted signals.

34. A wireless communication system, comprising:

a pair of radios that are in communication with each other;

wherein each radio comprises an antenna housing unit that houses a pair of reflectors that are situated on a front side of the antenna housing unit; and

wherein the radios are configured in a way that reflectors of a first radio face reflectors of a second radio.

35. The wireless communication system of claim 34, wherein the pair of reflectors includes a top parabola dish situated above a bottom parabola dish, wherein the radios are configured in a way that the top parabola dish of the first radio is in communication with the bottom parabola dish of the second radio, and the bottom parabola dish of the first radio is in communication with the top parabola dish of the second radio.

36. The wireless communication system of claim 34, wherein the radios are configured to operate in a full-duplex mode.

37. The wireless communication system of claim 34, wherein the radios are configured to operate in a half-duplex mode.

38. The wireless communication system of claim 34, wherein a respective radio further comprises a single printed circuit board (PCB), wherein the single PCB comprises:

a transmitting circuitry coupled to one of the reflectors; and

a receiving circuitry coupled to the other one of the reflectors.

39. A method for establishing a wireless communication link, comprising:

placing a pair of radios that are in communication with each other at each end of the wireless communication link;

wherein each radio comprises an antenna housing unit that houses a pair of reflectors that are situated on a front side of the antenna housing unit; and

wherein placing the radios involves configuring reflectors of a first radio to face reflectors of a second radio.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the pair of reflectors includes a top parabola dish situated above a bottom parabola dish, wherein the radios are configured in a way that the top parabola dish of the first radio is in communication with the bottom parabola dish of the second radio, and the bottom parabola dish of the first radio is in communication with the top parabola dish of the second radio.

41. The method of claim 39, further comprising configuring the radios to operate in a full-duplex mode.

42. The method of claim 39, further comprising configuring the radios to operate in a half-duplex mode.

43. The method of claim 39, further comprising:

coupling one of the reflectors to a transmitting circuitry resided on a single printed circuit board (PCB); and

coupling the other reflector to a receiving circuitry resided on the same PCB.

44. A method for establishing a wireless communication link, comprising:

at one end of the wireless communication link, configuring a radio for transmitting to and receiving from the other end of the wireless communication link wireless signals;

wherein the radio comprises an antenna housing unit that houses a pair of reflectors that are situated on a front side of the antenna housing unit; and

wherein configuring the radio involves placing the reflectors to face the other end of the wireless communication link.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein the pair of reflectors includes a top parabola dish situated above a bottom parabola dish.

46. The method of claim 44, further comprising configuring the radio to operate in a full-duplex mode.

47. The method of claim 44, further comprising configuring the radio to operate in a half-duplex mode.

48. The method of claim 44, further

coupling one of the reflectors to a transmitting circuitry resided on a single printed circuit board (PCB);

and

coupling the other reflector to a receiving circuitry resided on the same PCB.