Unified optical fiber-based distributed antenna systems (DASs) for supporting small cell communications deployment from multiple small cell service providers, and related devices and methods

• US 10,200,124 B2
• Filed: 10/23/2017
• Issued: 02/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Corning Optical Communications LLC (Corning Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Corning Optical Communications Wireless Ltd. (Corning Incorporated)
• Inventors: Berlin, Igor, Cune, William Patrick
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Dzung
• Application Number:
  US15/790,626
• Publication Number:
  US 20180062745A1
• Time in Patent Office: 470 Days
• 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: H04W 16/18 Network planning tools
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/085 Access point devices with remote components

Abstract

Unified optical fiber-based distributed antenna systems (DASs) for supporting small cell communications deployment from multiple small cell service providers are disclosed. The unified optical fiber-based DASs disclosed herein are configured to receive multiple small cell communications from different small cell service providers to be deployed over optical fiber to small cells in the DAS. In this manner, the same DAS architecture can be employed to distribute different small cell communications from different small cell service providers to small cells. Use of optical fiber for delivering small cell communications can reduce the risk of having to deploy new cabling if bandwidth needs for future small cell communication services exceeds conductive wiring capabilities. Optical fiber cabling can also allow for higher distance cable runs to the small cells due to the lower loss of optical fiber, which can provide for enhanced centralization services.

Claims

1. An optical fiber-based distributed antenna system (DAS) for supporting small cell communications from different small cell service providers, comprising:

a plurality of edge devices each configured to receive electrical communications from a network, the plurality of edge devices comprising;

at least one first small cell configured to receive a first electrical small cell communications; and

at least one second small cell configured to receive a second electrical small cell communications different from the first electrical small cell communications;

a communications control equipment, comprising;

a plurality of communications interfaces each configured to receive electrical communications, the plurality of communications interfaces comprising;

at least one first small cell communications interface configured to receive a first small cell communications from a first small cell service provider; and

at least one second small cell communications interface configured to receive a second small cell communications from a second small cell service provider; and

a plurality of switches comprising a plurality of communications output ports and a plurality of communications input ports, the plurality of communications input ports each configured to be coupled to a communications interface among the plurality of communications interfaces;

wherein each of the plurality of switches is configured to route an electrical communications among a plurality of electrical communications, received on a communications input port among the plurality of communications input ports, to at least two communications output ports among the plurality of communications output ports; and

a plurality of media converters, comprising;

a first media converter configured to;

receive a first electrical communications from at least one communications output port of the plurality of switches;

convert the received first electrical communications to a first optical communications comprising a first optical small cell communications; and

route the first optical small cell communications over at least one first dedicated optical fiber among a plurality of optical fibers to the at least one first small cell; and

a second media converter configured to;

receive a second electrical communications from at least one communications output port of the plurality of switches;

convert the received second electrical communications to a second optical communications comprising a second optical small cell communications; and

route the second optical small cell communications over at least one second dedicated optical fiber among the plurality of optical fibers to the at least one second small cell.

2. The optical fiber-based DAS of claim 1, wherein the communications control equipment further comprises at least one data processor coupled to at least one switch among the plurality of switches, the at least one data processor configured to monitor data communications of the electrical communications routed by the at least one switch.

3. The optical fiber-based DAS of claim 2, wherein the at least one data processor is further configured to insert data in the electrical communications routed by the at least one switch.

4. The optical fiber-based DAS of claim 2, further comprising at least one application server communicatively coupled to the at least one data processor.

5. The optical fiber-based DAS of claim 4, wherein the at least one application server is configured to communicate with the at least one data processor to monitor data in the electrical communications routed by the at least one switch coupled to the at least one data processor.

6. The optical fiber-based DAS of claim 5, wherein the at least one application server is further configured to communicate to the at least one data processor to cause the electrical communications routed by the at least one switch coupled to the at least one data processor to be synchronized.

7. The optical fiber-based DAS of claim 4, wherein the at least one application server is configured to communicate a data insertion message to the at least one data processor to insert data in the electrical communications routed by the at least one switch coupled to the at least one data processor.

8. The optical fiber-based DAS of claim 4, wherein the at least one application server is configured to:

receive from the at least one data processor, the electrical communications routed by the at least one switch coupled to the at least one data processor; and

communicate the received electrical communications to at least one other wired network.

9. The optical fiber-based DAS of claim 8, wherein the at least one other wired network is comprised of a network comprised from the group consisting of a switch-based local area network (LAN), a passive optical LAN (POL), and a passive optical network (PON).

10. The optical fiber-based DAS of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of edge devices further comprises an edge device interface comprising:

a communications input port configured to receive optical communications from a media converter among the plurality of media converters for the at least one of the plurality of edge devices;

at least one local media converter configured to convert the received optical communications to electrical communications; and

a communications output port configured to provide the received electrical communications to the at least one of the plurality of edge devices.

11. The optical fiber-based DAS of claim 1, wherein at least one of the at least one first dedicated optical fiber and the at least one second dedicated optical fiber is disposed in a multi-fiber cable.

12. The optical fiber-based DAS of claim 11, wherein the multi-fiber cable comprises at least one electrical conductor configured to carry power to at least one of the at least one first small cell and the at least one second small cell.

13. The optical fiber-based DAS of claim 1, wherein the at least one first dedicated optical fiber and the at least one second dedicated optical fiber are disposed in a same multi-fiber cable.

14. The optical fiber-based DAS of claim 1, wherein:

the at least one first small cell is comprised of a small cell comprised from the group consisting of a cellular service small cell, a Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) access point, an extremely high frequency (EFH) radio device, a digital DAS cell, a remote radio head (RRH), a location radio node, a wireless reader, and an application-specific radio node; and

the at least one second small cell is comprised of a small cell different from the at least one first small cell, the at least one second small cell comprised from the group consisting of a cellular service small cell, a WiFi access point, an EFH radio device, a digital DAS cell, a RRH, a location radio node, a wireless reader, and an application-specific radio node.

15. The optical fiber-based DAS of claim 1, wherein:

at least one of the plurality of media converters is further configured to;

receive an optical communication from an edge device among the plurality of edge devices destined for another edge device among the plurality of edge devices;

convert the received optical communication from the edge device to an electrical communication; and

route the electrical communication to a switch among the plurality of switches associated with the another edge device; and

each of the plurality of switches are further configured to;

receive the electrical communication destined for the another edge device from the at least one of the plurality of media converters; and

route the received electrical communication to a communications output port among the plurality of communications output ports coupled to the another edge device.

16. A method of distributing small cell communications from different small cell service providers in an optical fiber-based distributed antenna system (DAS), comprising:

receiving a plurality of electrical communications over a plurality of communications interfaces from a plurality of communications service providers, comprising;

receiving a first small cell communications from a first small cell service provider on at least one first small cell communications interface; and

receiving a second small cell communications from a second small cell service provider on at least one second small cell communications interface, the second small cell communications different from the first small cell communications;

providing each of the plurality of electrical communications to at least one communications port in at least one switch among a plurality of switches, each switch among the plurality of switches coupled to at least one communications interface among the plurality of communications interfaces;

routing each of the plurality of electrical communications received on a plurality of communications input ports to at least two communications output ports among a plurality of communications output ports in the plurality of switches;

receiving in a plurality of media converters, the plurality of electrical communications from the plurality of communications output ports of the plurality of switches;

converting in the plurality of media converters, the received plurality of electrical communications to a plurality of optical communications, the plurality of optical communications comprising a first optical small cell communications and a second optical small cell communications;

routing the first optical small cell communications over at least one first dedicated optical fiber among a plurality of optical fibers to at least one first small cell; and

routing the second optical small cell communications over at least one second dedicated optical fiber among the plurality of optical fibers to at least one second small cell.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising monitoring data communications of the plurality of electrical communications routed by the at least one switch in at least one data processor coupled to the at least one switch among the plurality of switches.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising the at least one data processor inserting data in the plurality of electrical communications routed by the at least one switch coupled to the at least one data processor.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising at least one application server configured to communicate a data insertion message to the at least one data processor to insert data in the plurality of electrical communications routed by the at least one switch coupled to the at least one data processor.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving from the at least one data processor, at least one electrical communications among the plurality of electrical communications routed by the at least one switch; and

communicating the received at least one electrical communications to at least one other wired network.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

receiving the plurality of optical communications from the plurality of media converters on the plurality of communications input ports in an area distributer communicatively coupled to a subset of edge devices among a plurality of edge devices;

converting the received plurality of optical communications to a plurality of electrical communications in at least one local media converter in the area distributer;

providing the received plurality of electrical communications to the plurality of communications output ports coupled to the subset of edge devices; and

providing power from a powering unit in the area distributer over the plurality of communications output ports to the subset of edge devices to supply power to the subset of edge devices.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein at least one of a plurality of edge devices comprises an edge device interface, the method comprising:

receiving an optical service from a media converter of the plurality of media converters over a communications input port among the plurality of communications input ports of an edge device;

converting, in a local media converter, the received plurality of optical communications to a plurality of received electrical communications; and

providing the plurality of received electrical communications to a communications output port among the plurality of communications output ports of the edge device.

23. A unified optical fiber-based distributed antenna system (DAS) for supporting small cell communications from different small cell service providers, comprising:

a plurality of edge devices each configured to receive electrical communications from a network, the plurality of edge devices comprising;

at least one first small cell configured to receive a first electrical small cell communications; and

at least one second small cell configured to receive a second electrical small cell communications different from the first electrical small cell communications; and

a communications control equipment, comprising;

a plurality of communications interfaces each configured to receive electrical communications, the plurality of communications interfaces comprising;

at least one first small cell communications interface configured to receive a first small cell communications from a first small cell service provider; and

at least one second small cell communications interface configured to receive a second small cell communications from a second small cell service provider;

a plurality of switches comprising a plurality of communications output ports and a plurality of communications input ports, the plurality of communications input ports each configured to be coupled to a respective communications interface among the plurality of communications interfaces, and wherein;

the plurality of switches comprises a plurality of small cell communications switches;

each of the at least one first small cell communications interface and the at least one second small cell communications interface is coupled to a dedicated small cell communications switch for each small cell communications; and

each dedicated small cell communications switch is configured to receive and route the received small cell communications to at least one of the at least one first small cell and the at least one second small cell; and

a plurality of media converters, comprising;

a first media converter configured to;

receive a first electrical communications from at least one communications output port of the plurality of switches;

convert the received first electrical communications to a first optical communications comprising a first optical small cell communications; and

route the first optical small cell communications over at least one first dedicated optical fiber among a plurality of optical fibers to the at least one first small cell; and

a second media converter configured to;

receive a second electrical communications from at least one communications output port of the plurality of switches;

convert the received second electrical communications to a second optical communications comprising a second optical small cell communications; and

route the second optical small cell communications over at least one second dedicated optical fiber among the plurality of optical fibers to the at least one second small cell.

24. The unified optical fiber-based DAS of claim 23, wherein:

the plurality of edge devices further comprises;

at least one non-small cell edge device configured to receive a non-small cell optical communications service;

the plurality of communications services interfaces further comprises;

at least one non-small cell communications services interface configured to receive at least one non-small cell communications service from at least one non-small cell service provider;

the plurality of switches further comprises a plurality of non-small cell communications switches configured to receive and route the at least one received non-small cell communications service; and

a media converter among the plurality of media converters configured to;

convert the received at least one non-small cell communications service to at least one non-small cell optical communications service;

route the at least one non-small cell optical communications service over at least one dedicated optical fiber among the plurality of optical fibers to the at least one non-small cell edge device.