Adaptive use of polarization as a means of increased wireless channel capacity

• US 8,154,451 B2
• Filed: 09/13/2009
• Issued: 04/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Robert Mitchell Zimmerman
• Original Assignee: Robert Mitchell Zimmerman
• Inventors: Zimmerman, Robert Mitchell
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): McGue, Frank J.
• Application Number:
  US12/558,555
• Publication Number:
  US 20110065449A1
• Time in Patent Office: 940 Days
• Field of Search: 342/361
• US Class Current: 342/361
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/51 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/53 Determining attitude
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0247 Determining attitude
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/245 provided with means for varying the polarisation polarising devices H01Q15/24; tracking by comparing linear polarisation compounds G01S3/146; reducing depolarisation effects H04B7/00; polarisation diversity H04B7/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/27 for locating or positioning the transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/10 Polarisation diversity; Directional diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/00 Local resource management

Abstract

A mobile transceiver uses position and/or orientation knowledge to increase the capacity of a wireless link by transmitting over multiple electromagnetic polarizations. Sensors may include accelerometers, compasses, position sensors such as GPS receivers, and other means of determining the relative orientation of a mobile tranceiver to its base station. This information is used to properly shape transmitted signals and correlate received signals to increase the link capacity of the wireless link, either through channel multiplexing or increased link quality. This is particularly useful for mobile phones used on cellular networks utilizing high data volume on the allocated spectrum.

Claims

1. A communication system, comprising:

(a) a mobile unit operatively coupled to at least one antenna, said antenna(s) configured to transmit electromagnetic waves having a polarization state fixed with respect to said mobile antenna(s) and receive electromagnetic waves having an arbitrary polarization;

(b) a remote transceiver operatively coupled to a multitude of antennas, said antennas configured to transmit electromagnetic waves having a fixed polarization state with respect to said transceiver and receive electromagnetic waves having an arbitrary polarization;

(c) at least one sensor for sensing the orientation of said mobile unit with respect to a fixed reference frame where at least one of said sensors is located on said mobile unit

(d) a means for using the output of said sensor to resolve the relative orientation of said mobile unit and said remote transceiver,

(e) a means for using said relative orientation to decouple incident polarized electromagnetic signals on said antenna(s) of said mobile unit,

(f) (a) at least one sensor for sensing the position of said mobile unit with respect to a fixed reference frame,

(g) (b) a means for using said position and said relative orientation to decouple incident polarized electromagnetic signals on said antenna(s) of said mobile unit.

2. The communication system of claim 1 where at least one of said position sensors is selected from the group consisting of Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers and methods for cellular tower triangulation.

3. A communication system, comprising:

(a) a mobile unit operatively coupled to at least one antenna, said antenna(s) configured to transmit electromagnetic waves having a polarization state fixed with respect to said mobile antenna(s) and receive electromagnetic waves having an arbitrary polarization;

(b) a remote transceiver operatively coupled to a multitude of antennas, said antennas configured to transmit electromagnetic waves having a fixed polarization state with respect to said transceiver and receive electromagnetic waves having an arbitrary polarization;

(c) at least one sensor for sensing the orientation of said mobile unit with respect to a fixed reference frame where at least one of said sensors is located on said mobile unit where said orientation sensor is selected from the group consisting of accelerometers, compasses, inclinometers, and gyroscopes,

(d) a means for using the output of said sensor to resolve the relative orientation of said mobile unit and said remote transceiver,

(e) a means for using said relative orientation to decouple incident polarized electromagnetic signals on said antenna(s) of said mobile unit.

4. A method of increasing wireless channel capacity of a transceiver

(a) providing at least one orientation sensor for said transceiver,

(b) providing at least one antenna for said transceiver with a known polarization relative to said transceiver,

(c) providing a means for communication using electromagnetic waves with a base station, where said base station consists of a second transceiver with a plurality of antennas with a known polarization relative to said base station,

(d) producing at least one measurement for said transceiver orientation relative to a fixed reference frame wherein at least one of said measurements is produced by said transceiver, and where said orientation sensor(s) is/are selected from the group consisting of accelerometers, compasses, inclinometers, and gyroscopes,

(e) producing an estimate for the relative orientation of said transceiver and said base station using said measurement(s),

(f) isolating and receiving electromagnetic transmissions transmitted by said base station at different polarizations using said relative orientation estimate, whereby channel capacity can be increased by correlating incident signals with their expected polarization.