Remotely reconfigurable distributed antenna system and methods

• US 8,682,338 B2
• Filed: 08/16/2011
• Issued: 03/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dali Wireless Inc. (Dali Systems Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Dali Systems Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Lemson, Paul, Stapleton, Shawn Patrick, Trajkovic, Sasa, Lee, Albert S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rego, Dominic E
• Application Number:
  US13/211,243
• Publication Number:
  US 20120039320A1
• Time in Patent Office: 952 Days
• Field of Search: 455/562.1, 455/436, 455443-445, 455/447, 455450-454, 455/464, 455/509, 370/328, 370/310.2, 370/338
• US Class Current: 455/453
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/3247 using feedback acting on predistortion circuits H03F1/3264 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2200/204 A hybrid coupler being used at the output of an amplifier circuit
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2201/3224 Predistortion being done for compensating memory effects
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2201/3233 Adaptive predistortion using lookup table, e.g. memory, RAM, ROM, LUT, to generate the predistortion
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/24 of transmitter output stages
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/2575 Radio-over-fibre, e.g. radio frequency signal modulated onto an optical carrier
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/25753 Distribution optical network, e.g. between a base station and a plurality of remote units
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/02 Details ; arrangements for supplying electrical power along data transmission lines systems for transmitting signals via power distribution lines H04B3/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/56 Routing software
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0032 Distributed allocation, i.e. involving a plurality of allocating devices, each making partial allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0067 Provisions for optical access or distribution networks, e.g. Gigabit Ethernet Passive Optical Network (GE-PON), ATM-based Passive Optical Network (A-PON), PON-Ring
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0081 Fault tolerance; Redundancy; Recovery; Reconfigurability
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1301 Optical transmission, optical switches
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/02 Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/52 based on load
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/085 Access point devices with remote components

Abstract

The present disclosure is a novel utility of a software defined radio (SDR) based Distributed Antenna System (DAS) that is field reconfigurable and support multi-modulation schemes (modulation-independent), multi-carriers, multi-frequency bands and multi-channels. The present disclosure enables a high degree of flexibility to manage, control, enhance, facilitate the usage and performance of a distributed wireless network such as flexible simulcast, automatic traffic load-balancing, network and radio resource optimization, network calibration, autonomous/assisted commissioning, carrier pooling, automatic frequency selection, frequency carrier placement, traffic monitoring, traffic tagging, pilot beacon, etc. As a result, the SDR DAS can increase the efficiency and traffic capacity of the operators'"'"' wireless network.

Claims

1. A method for routing and switching RF signals comprising:

providing one or more remote radio units, each remote radio unit configured to transmit one or more downlink RF signals and to receive one or more uplink RF signals;

providing at least one digital access unit configured to communicate with the one or more remote radio units;

translating the uplink and downlink signals between RF and base band as appropriate;

packetizing the uplink and downlink base band signals, wherein the packetized signals correspond to a plurality of carriers;

configuring each remote radio unit to receive or transmit a respective subset of the plurality of carriers, each respective subset of the plurality of carriers including a number of carriers;

reconfiguring each remote radio unit by;

determining a load percentage for each remote radio unit; and

increasing or decreasing the number of carriers in the respective subset of the plurality of carriers based on the load percentage; and

routing and switching the packetized signals among the one or more remote radio units via the at least one digital access unit according to a result of the reconfiguring.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein each carrier corresponds to a respective RF band.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the load percentage comprises detecting which carriers are active for each remote radio unit.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one digital access unit comprises a first digital access unit and a second digital access unit configured to communicate with each other via a first optical cable.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the one or more remote radio units comprise a first remote radio unit and a second remote radio unit, the first remote radio unit configured to communicate with the first digital access unit via a second optical cable, and the second remote radio unit configured to communicate with the second digital access unit via a third optical cable.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the first digital access unit is configured to communicate with a first base station, and the second digital access unit is configured to communicate with a second base station.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the first base station transmits or receives RF signals corresponding to a first number of carriers, and the second base station transmits or receives RF signals corresponding to a second number of carriers.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the first number of carriers and the second number of carriers correspond to different RF bands.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the first remote radio unit is configured to receive or transmit RF signals corresponding to one of the second number of carriers.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the second remote radio unit is configured to receive or transmit RF signals corresponding to one of the first number of carriers.

11. The method of claim 6 wherein the first base station and the second base station are associated with different wireless operators.

12. The method of claim 6 wherein the first base station and the second base station are associated with a common wireless operator.