TDM/TDMA wireless telecommunication system with electronic scanning antenna

• US 6,456,610 B1
• Filed: 11/07/1995
• Issued: 09/24/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Briley, Bruce Edwin
• Primary Examiner(s): Kizou, Hassan
• Application Number:
  US08/553,202
• Time in Patent Office: 2,513 Days
• Field of Search: 370/321, 370/337, 370/345, 370/347, 370/280, 370/478, 370/310, 370/339, 370/329, 370/336, 455/33.1, 455/53.1, 455/54.1, 455/277.1, 455/25, 375/373, 375/376, 379/59, 342/368
• US Class Current: 370/337
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0408 using two or more beams, i.e. beam diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2643 using time-division multiple access [TDMA] H04B7/2615, H04B7/2618 take precedence

Abstract

A terrestrial wireless telecommunication system is disclosed that uses an electronic scanning antenna to rotate a beam that carries communication messages between a base station and a plurality of wireless terminals. A base station transmitter transmits the communication messages to each wireless terminal, via the electronic scanning antenna, in a time-division multiplexed (“TDM”) data stream that is synchronized with the rotation of the beam, and a base station receiver receives the communication messages from each wireless terminal in a time-division multiple access (“TDMA”) data stream that is also synchronized with the rotation of the beam.

Claims

1. A base station that is capable of communicating with a plurality of wireless terminals, said base station comprising;

an electronic scanning antenna for continuously rotating a beam that carries communication messages between said base station and said wireless terminals;

a transmitter operatively coupled to said electronic scanning antenna that is capable of transmitting said communication messages, via said electronic scanning antenna, to said wireless terminals in a time-division multiplexed data stream that is synchronized with the rotation of said beam; and

a receiver operatively coupled to said electronic scanning antenna that is capable of receiving said communication messages, via said electronic scanning antenna, from said wireless terminals in a time-division multiple access data stream that is substantially synchronized with the rotation of said beam.

2. The base station of claim 1 wherein said antenna is a phased array antenna comprising linearly saturable magnetic delay elements.

3. The base station of claim 1 wherein said electronic scanning antenna is capable of rotating said beam at a rate of 64,000 rotations per second.

4. The base station of claim 1 wherein said transmitter is capable of transmitting a single data bit in said time-division multiplexed data stream when a main lobe of said beam rotates through an antenna of a wireless terminal.

5. The base station of claim 1 wherein said electronic scanning antenna comprises a phased array antenna.

6. The base station of claim 5 wherein said phased array antenna comprises four planar aperture faces, wherein each of said aperture faces scans a 90 degree azimuthal sector.

7. The base station of claim 1, wherein said beam is a fan-shaped beam having azimuthal and elevational beamwidths with the elevational beamwidth being broader than the azimuthal beamwidth.

8. The base station of claim 1 wherein:

said transmitter transmits said communications messages in a time-division multiplexed and frequency-division multiplexed data stream that is synchronized with the rotation of said beam; and

said receiver receives said communication messages in a time-division multiple access and frequency-division multiple access data stream that is synchronized with the rotation of said beam.

9. The wireless terminal of claim 1 wherein said electronic scanning antenna is capable of transmitting a synchronization signal in said time-division multiplexed data stream to enable a wireless terminal to transmit said communication messages to said base station in synchronism with said beam.

10. A method for a plurality of communication messages, said method comprising:

continuously rotating, with an electronic scanning antenna, a beam;

transmitting with said beam a plurality of said communication messages to a plurality of wireless terminals in a time-division multiplexed data stream that is synchronized with a rate of rotation of said beam; and

receiving a plurality of said communication messages from said wireless terminals in a time-division multiple access data stream that is also synchronized with said rate of rotation of said beam.