Intelligent backhaul radio with transmit and receive antenna arrays

• US 9,001,809 B2
• Filed: 07/21/2014
• Issued: 04/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: COMS IP Holdings LLC
• Original Assignee: CBF Networks, Inc. (COMSovereign Holding Corp.)
• Inventors: Lea, David Andrew G., Negus, Kevin J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Phillips, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sharma, Gautam
• Application Number:
  US14/336,958
• Publication Number:
  US 20140329562A1
• Time in Patent Office: 260 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/246 specially adapted for base stations
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/48 Earthing means; Earth screens; Counterpoises
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/50 Structural association of antennas with earthing switches, lead-in devices or lightning protectors
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/062 using dipole aerials; H01Q21/067, H01Q21/068 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/064 using horn or slot aerials slotted waveguides arrays H01Q21/005
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/065 Patch antenna array
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/24 Combinations of antenna units polarised in different directions for transmitting or receiving circularly and elliptically polarised waves or waves linearly polarised in any direction circularly polarised patch antennas H01Q9/0428; circularly polarised horns H01Q13/0241; cross-polarised horns H01Q13/0258; polarisation converters H01Q15/242; cross-polarised rear feeds H01Q19/136; crossed polarisation dual antenna H01Q25/001
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/29 Combinations of different interacting antenna units for giving a desired directional characteristic H01Q25/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 25/00 Antennas or antenna systems providing at least two radiating patterns arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern H01Q3/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 25/001 Crossed polarisation dual antennas orthomode horns H01Q13/0258; cross-polarised rear feeds H01Q19/136; orthomode transducers H01P1/161
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 25/005 providing two patterns of opposite direction; back to back antennas H01Q25/004 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/401 for selecting or indicating operating mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/50 using different frequencies for the two directions of communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/25 Arrangements specific to fibre transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0408 using two or more beams, i.e. beam diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0695 using beam selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/088 using beam selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/10 Polarisation diversity; Directional diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0001 Systems modifying transmission characteristics according to link quality, e.g. power backoff adaptive data allocation for multicarrier modulation H04L5/0044; controlling transmission power for radio systems H04W52/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/004 by using forward error control H04L1/0618 takes precedence; coding, decoding or code conversion, for error detection or correction H03M13/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/18 : Automatic repetition systems, e.g. Van Duuren systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/03828 : Arrangements for spectral shaping; Arrangements for providing signals with specified spectral properties partial response systems H04L25/497
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/01 : Equalisers baseband equalizers at the transmitter end H04L25/03343; in analogue transmission systems H04B3/04, H04B7/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2601 : Multicarrier modulation systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2636 : with FFT or DFT modulators, e.g. standard single-carrier frequency-division multiple access [SC-FDMA] transmitter or DFT spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing [DFT-SOFDM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 : the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 : Access point devices

Abstract

A intelligent backhaul radio have an advanced antenna system for use in PTP or PMP topologies. The antenna system provides a significant diversity benefit. Antenna configurations are disclosed that provide for increased transmitter to receiver isolation, adaptive polarization and MIMO transmission equalization. Adaptive optimization of transmission parameters based upon side information provided in the form of metric feedback from a far end receiver utilizing the antenna system is also disclosed.

Claims

1. A backhaul radio comprising:

a horizontally arranged backhaul radio antenna array comprising;

a plurality of directional receive antenna arrays, wherein each of said plurality of directional receive antenna arrays comprises a plurality of receive antenna sub-arrays, and wherein each of said plurality of receive antenna sub-arrays comprises a plurality of receive antenna elements; and

a directional transmit antenna array, wherein said directional transmit antenna array comprises a plurality of transmit antenna sub-arrays, and wherein each of said plurality of transmit antenna sub-arrays comprises a plurality of transmit antenna elements;

one or more demodulator cores, wherein each demodulator core is capable of demodulating one or more of a plurality of receive symbol streams to produce one or more receive data interface streams;

a plurality of receive radio frequency (RF) chains, wherein each receive RF chain is capable of converting from one of a plurality of receive RF signals to a respective one of a plurality of receive chain output signals;

a frequency selective receive path channel multiplexer, interposed between the one or more demodulator cores and at least two of the plurality of receive RF chains, wherein the frequency selective receive path channel multiplexer is capable of generating the plurality of receive symbol streams from at least two of the plurality of receive chain output signals provided by said at least two of the plurality of receive RF chains;

one or more modulator cores, wherein each modulator core is capable of modulating one or more transmit data interface streams to produce one or more of a plurality of transmit symbol streams; and

a plurality of transmit RF chains, wherein each transmit RF chain is capable of converting from one of a plurality of transmit chain input signals to a respective one of a plurality of transmit RF signals each comprising at least one of said plurality of transmit symbol streams;

wherein each of the plurality of receive antenna sub-arrays is coupled or couplable to at least one receive RF chain;

wherein each of the plurality of transmit antenna sub-arrays is coupled or couplable to at least one transmit RF chain; and

wherein at least one of the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays is horizontally offset relative to the directional transmit antenna array in a first direction and at least one other of the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays is horizontally offset relative to the directional transmit antenna array in a second direction horizontally opposite to the first direction.

2. The backhaul radio of claim 1, wherein the frequency selective receive path channel multiplexer comprises at least one of a Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA) combiner or equalizer, a maximal ratio combining (MRC) combiner or equalizer, a minimum mean squared error (MMSE) combiner or equalizer, an Eigen Beam Forming (EBF) combiner or equalizer, a receive beam forming (BF) combiner or equalizer, a Zero Forcing (ZF) combiner or equalizer, a channel estimator, a Maximal Likelihood (DL) detector, an Interference Canceller (IC), a VBLAST combiner or equalizer, a Discrete Fourier Transformer (DFT), a Fast Fourier Transformer (FFT), or an Inverse Fast Fourier Transformer (IFFT).

3. The backhaul radio of claim 1, wherein each one of the one or more modulator cores comprises at least an encoder and a symbol mapper;

wherein each one of the one or more demodulator cores comprises at least a decoder and a soft decision symbol demapper;

wherein each one of the plurality of transmit RF chains comprises at least two digital to analog converters and a vector modulator that are capable of operating on the respective one of the plurality of transmit chain input signals, each said respective one of the plurality of transmit chain input signals comprised of digital baseband quadrature signals; and

wherein each one of the plurality of receive RF chains comprises at least a vector demodulator and two analog to digital converters that are capable of producing the respective one of the plurality of receive chain output signals, each said respective one of the plurality of receive chain output signals comprised of digital baseband quadrature signals.

4. The backhaul radio of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one additional directional transmit antenna arrays;

wherein at least one of the at least one additional directional transmit antenna arrays comprises a plurality of additional transmit antenna sub-arrays, wherein each of said plurality of additional transmit antenna sub-arrays comprises a plurality of additional transmit antenna elements; and

wherein each of said plurality of additional transmit antenna sub-arrays is coupled or couplable to at least one transmit RF chain.

5. The backhaul radio of claim 1, wherein the backhaul radio is capable of radiating at least one transmit RF signal from at least one of the plurality of transmit antenna sub-arrays at the same time that said at least two of the plurality of receive RF chains are capable of providing said at least two of the plurality of respective receive chain output signals to the frequency selective receive path channel multiplexer.

6. The backhaul radio of claim 1, wherein a total number of receive antenna sub-arrays comprised within the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays exceeds the number of the plurality of receive symbol streams.

7. The backhaul radio of claim 1, wherein a total number of receive antenna sub-arrays comprised within the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays exceeds the number of said at least two of the plurality of receive RF chains that provide said at least two of the plurality of respective receive chain output signals to the frequency selective receive path channel multiplexer.

8. The backhaul radio of claim 7 further comprising one or more selectable RF connections for selectively coupling certain of the receive antenna sub-arrays comprised within the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays to certain of the plurality of receive RF chains, wherein the number of receive antenna sub-arrays that can be selectively coupled to receive RF chains exceeds the number of receive RF chains that can accept receive RF signals from the one or more selectable RF connections.

9. The backhaul radio of claim 1, wherein each of the receive antenna sub-arrays has an antenna pattern beamwidth in elevation similar to an antenna pattern beamwidth of each of the transmit antenna sub-arrays in elevation.

10. The backhaul radio of claim 9, wherein the antenna pattern beamwidth in elevation for each of the receive antenna sub-arrays is narrower than an antenna pattern beamwidth of each of the transmit antenna sub-arrays in azimuth.

11. The backhaul radio of claim 9, wherein the antenna pattern beamwidth in elevation for each of the receive antenna sub-arrays is narrower than an antenna pattern beamwidth of each of the receive antenna sub-arrays in azimuth.

12. The backhaul radio of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays comprises two receive antenna sub-arrays.

13. The backhaul radio of claim 12, wherein a first one of the two receive antenna sub-arrays in each of the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays has a first polarization and a second one of the two receive antenna sub-arrays in each of the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays has a second polarization that is substantially orthogonal to the first polarization.

14. The backhaul radio of claim 1, further comprising:

one or more probe-in-space antenna elements, wherein at least one of the one or more probe-in-space antenna elements has a wider antenna pattern beamwidth in azimuth than an antenna pattern beamwidth in azimuth for any of the receive antenna sub-arrays;

wherein at least one of the one or more probe-in-space antenna elements can be utilized for Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) that includes detection of radar systems.

15. The backhaul radio of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of transmit antenna elements is one of a patch antenna element or a printed dipole antenna element;

and

wherein each of the plurality of receive antenna elements is one of a patch antenna element or a printed dipole antenna element.

16. The backhaul radio of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of receive antenna sub-arrays is comprised of one or more columns of a plurality of patch antenna elements;

and wherein a number of columns for the one or more columns of a plurality of patch antenna elements is less than a number of patch elements within each of the one or more columns of a plurality of patch antenna elements.

17. The backhaul radio of claim 1, wherein each of the receive antenna sub-arrays comprised within each of the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays is oriented with respect to an azimuthal antenna pattern at a same azimuthal direction relative to at least one other of the receive antenna sub-arrays within its respective one of the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays and is oriented with respect to an azimuthal antenna pattern at a different azimuthal direction relative to at least one receive antenna sub-array within at least one other of the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays.

18. The backhaul radio of claim 1, wherein each of the receive antenna sub-arrays comprised within each of the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays horizontally offset relative to the directional transmit antenna array in the first direction is oriented with respect to an azimuthal antenna pattern at an azimuthal direction that is substantially a mirror image about a center of an azimuthal antenna pattern of the directional transmit antenna array relative to at least one receive antenna sub-array comprised within at least one of the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays horizontally offset relative to the directional transmit antenna array in the second direction.

19. The backhaul radio of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays is distributed in azimuthal orientation such that the aggregate normalized azimuthal antenna pattern beamwidth of the plurality of receive antenna sub-arrays in composite is equal to or greater than the antenna pattern beamwidth of each of the transmit antenna sub-arrays in azimuth.

20. A backhaul radio comprising:

a vertically arranged backhaul radio antenna array comprising;

a plurality of directional receive antenna arrays, wherein each of said plurality of directional receive antenna arrays comprises a plurality of receive antenna sub-arrays, and wherein each of said plurality of receive antenna sub-arrays comprises a plurality of receive antenna elements; and

a directional transmit antenna array, wherein said directional transmit antenna array comprises a plurality of transmit antenna sub-arrays, and wherein each of said plurality of transmit antenna sub-arrays comprises a plurality of transmit antenna elements;

one or more demodulator cores, wherein each demodulator core is capable of demodulating one or more of a plurality of receive symbol streams to produce one or more receive data interface streams;

a plurality of receive radio frequency (RF) chains, wherein each receive RF chain is capable of converting from one of a plurality of receive RF signals to a respective one of a plurality of receive chain output signals;

a frequency selective receive path channel multiplexer, interposed between the one or more demodulator cores and at least two of the plurality of receive RF chains, wherein the frequency selective receive path channel multiplexer is capable of generating the plurality of receive symbol streams from at least two of the plurality of receive chain output signals provided by said at least two of the plurality of receive RF chains;

one or more modulator cores, wherein each modulator core is capable of modulating one or more transmit data interface streams to produce one or more of a plurality of transmit symbol streams; and

a plurality of transmit RF chains, wherein each transmit RF chain is capable of converting from one of a plurality of transmit chain input signals to a respective one of a plurality of transmit RF signals each comprising at least one of said plurality of transmit symbol streams;

wherein each of the plurality of receive antenna sub-arrays is coupled or couplable to at least one receive RF chain;

wherein each of the plurality of transmit antenna sub-arrays is coupled or couplable to at least one transmit RF chain;

wherein each of the receive antenna sub-arrays has an antenna pattern beamwidth in elevation that is narrower than an antenna pattern beamwidth in azimuth for any of the receive antenna sub-arrays comprised within the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays;

wherein each of the transmit antenna sub-arrays has an antenna pattern beamwidth in elevation that is narrower than an antenna pattern beamwidth in azimuth for any of the receive antenna sub-arrays comprised within the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays;

wherein the backhaul radio is capable of radiating at least one transmit RF signal from at least one of the plurality of transmit antenna sub-arrays at the same time that said at least two of the plurality of receive RF chains are capable of providing said at least two of the plurality of respective receive chain output signals to the frequency selective receive path channel multiplexer; and

wherein all of the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays are vertically offset relative to the directional transmit antenna array.

21. The backhaul radio of claim 20, further comprising:

one or more probe-in-space antenna elements, wherein at least one of the one or more probe-in-space antenna elements has a wider antenna pattern beamwidth in azimuth than an antenna pattern beamwidth in azimuth for any of the receive antenna sub-arrays;

wherein at least one of the one or more probe-in-space antenna elements can be utilized for Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) that includes detection of radar systems.

22. The backhaul radio of claim 20, wherein at least one of the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays is vertically offset relative to the directional transmit antenna array in a first direction and at least one other of the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays is vertically offset relative to the directional transmit antenna array in a second direction vertically opposite to the first direction.

23. The backhaul radio of claim 20, further comprising:

at least one additional directional transmit antenna arrays;

wherein at least one of the at least one additional directional transmit antenna arrays comprises a plurality of additional transmit antenna sub-arrays, wherein each of said plurality of additional transmit antenna sub-arrays comprises a plurality of additional transmit antenna elements;

wherein each of said plurality of additional transmit antenna sub-arrays is coupled or couplable to at least one transmit RF chain; and

wherein all of the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays are vertically offset relative to said at least one of the at least one additional directional transmit antenna arrays.

24. The backhaul radio of claim 20, wherein a total number of receive antenna sub-arrays comprised within the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays exceeds the number of the plurality of receive symbol streams.

25. The backhaul radio of claim 20, wherein a total number of receive antenna sub-arrays comprised within the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays exceeds the number of the plurality of receive RF chains that provide the frequency selective receive path channel multiplexer with the at least two of the plurality of respective receive chain output signals.

26. The backhaul radio of claim 25 further comprising one or more selectable RF connections that selectively couple certain of the receive antenna sub-arrays comprised within the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays to certain of the plurality of receive RF chains and wherein the number of receive antenna sub-arrays that can be selectively coupled to receive RF chains exceeds the number of receive RF chains that can accept receive RF signals from the one or more selectable RF connections.

27. The backhaul radio of claim 20, wherein each of the receive antenna sub-arrays has an antenna pattern beamwidth in elevation similar to an antenna pattern beamwidth of each of the transmit antenna sub-arrays in elevation.

28. The backhaul radio of claim 20, wherein each of the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays is distributed in azimuthal orientation such that the aggregate normalized azimuthal antenna pattern beamwidth of the plurality of receive antenna sub-arrays in composite is equal to or greater than the antenna pattern beamwidth of each of the transmit antenna sub-arrays in azimuth.

29. The backhaul radio of claim 20, wherein all of the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays are vertically offset relative to the directional transmit antenna array in a same direction.

30. The backhaul radio of claim 20, wherein each of the receive antenna sub-arrays comprised within each of the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays is oriented with respect to an azimuthal antenna pattern at a same azimuthal direction relative to at least one other of the receive antenna sub-arrays within its respective one of the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays and is oriented with respect to an azimuthal antenna pattern at a different azimuthal direction relative to at least one receive antenna sub-array within at least one other of the plurality of directional receive antenna arrays.