RECONFIGURABLE ANTENNAS AND CONFIGURATION SELECTION METHODS FOR AD-HOC NETWORKS

• US 20130208608A1
• Filed: 03/18/2011
• Published: 08/15/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Politecnico di Milano
• Original Assignee: Drexel University, Politecnico di Milano
• Inventors: Piazza, Daniele, Kountouriotis, John, Dandekar, Kapil R., Mookiah, Prathaban, D'amico, Michele
• Granted Patent: US 9,565,717 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/007 specially adapted for indoor communication
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 13/203 Leaky coaxial lines
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/062 using dipole aerials; H01Q21/067, H01Q21/068 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/08 the units being spaced along or adjacent to a rectilinear path waveguide fed H01Q21/0037
• 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 3/24 varying the orientation by switching energy from one active radiating element to another, e.g. for beam switching
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 5/342 for different propagation modes H01Q5/314 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/0407 Substantially flat resonant element parallel to ground plane, e.g. patch antenna dipole H01Q9/285; monopole H01Q9/40
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/0435 using two feed points
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/145 by varying the electrical length
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/285 Planar dipole H01Q9/065 takes precedence; patch antenna H01Q9/0407
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/04 using two or more spaced independent antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

Reconfigurable antennas in an ad-hoc network are provided where all nodes employ MIMO/SIMO/MISO communication techniques. Three types of reconfigurable antennas: Reconfigurable Printed Dipole Array (RPDA), Reconfigurable Circular Patch Antenna (RCPA) and Two-Port Reconfigurable CRLH Leaky Wave Antennas are used. The RPDA, RCPA and the CRLH Leaky Wave antennas have a different number of configurations as well as different degrees of pattern diversity between possible configurations. To effectively use these antennas in a network, the performance of centralized and decentralized antenna configuration selection schemes are quantified for reconfiguration at one or both link ends. The sum capacity of the network is used as a metric to quantify the performance of these antennas in measured and simulated network channels.

Claims

1. An ad-hoc network system, comprising:

at least one transmitter and/or receiver having at least one multi-element reconfigurable array of transceivers; and

a processor that processes software implementing a configuration selection method for selecting an antenna configuration for said at least one multi-element reconfigurable array, where the antenna configuration is selected based on changes in interference in a transmission over a transmission link including the antenna being configured, a transmission rate of at least one transmitter, a received signal strength of at least one receiver, an error vector magnitude of at least one receiver, a channel matrix of at least one receiver, and/or a packet error rate of at least one of the receivers or transmitters.

2. A system as in claim 1, wherein the processor changes the antenna configuration of only a receiver in response to changes in interference in said transmission link.

3. A system as in claim 1, wherein the processor changes the antenna configuration of only a transmitter, wherein the antennas of different transmission links are allowed to change only after the interference level in said transmission link has adapted to a new antenna configuration at the transmitter of the transmission link.

4. A system as in claim 1, wherein the at least one multi-element reconfigurable array comprises multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO), single-input-multiple-output (SIMO) or multiple-input-single-output (MISO) transceivers.

5. A system as in claim 1, wherein at least one of the reconfigurable arrays of MIMO transceivers comprises a reconfigurable circular patch antenna.

6. A system as in claim 1, wherein at least one of the reconfigurable arrays of MIMO transceivers comprises a two-port reconfigurable leaky wave antenna.

7. A system as in claim 1, wherein at least one of the reconfigurable arrays of MIMO transceivers comprises a reconfigurable printed dipole array.

8. A system as in claim 1, wherein the software processed by the processor implements a centralized configuration selection process that has knowledge of part or all communication and interference channels in the ad-hoc network and selects the antenna configuration that optimizes the sum capacity of the ad-hoc network, the sum throughput of the ad-hoc network, and/or the error rate of the ad-hoc network.

9. A system as in claim 1, wherein the software processed by the processor implements a distributed configuration selection process that selects the antenna configuration using link channel and interference noise plus a noise covariance matrix, a transmission rate, a received signal strength, an error vector magnitude, a channel matrix, and/or a packet error rate for the transmission link including the antenna being configured by optimizing the link capacity, link throughput, or the link packet error rate of said transmission link.

10. A method for selecting the configuration of at least one multi-element reconfigurable array of transceivers in an ad-hoc network, comprising:

a processor selecting an antenna configuration for at least a transmitter and/or a receiver of a transmission link in said ad-hoc network;

measuring or estimating interference, a channel matrix, a transmission rate, a received signal strength, an error vector magnitude, and/or an error packet rate of said transmission link; and

selecting an antenna configuration for another transmission link in said ad-hoc network based on said measured or estimated interference, channel matrix, transmission rate, received signal strength, error vector magnitude, and/or error packet rate of said transmission link.

11. A method as in claim 10, wherein said selecting comprises optimizing the link capacity, link throughput, or the link packet error rate of said transmission link.

12. A method as in claim 10, comprising repeating the measuring or estimating and selecting steps so as to allow transmission links in said ad-hoc network besides said transmission link to respond to new measured or estimated levels caused by a change in a transmit configuration of the transmitter of said transmission link.

13. A method as in claim 10, wherein the antenna configuration is selected only for a receiver in response to changes in the measured or estimated levels in said transmission link.

14. A method as in claim 10, wherein the antenna configuration is selected only for a transmitter, wherein the antennas of different transmission links are allowed to change only after the measured or estimated levels in said transmission link have adapted to a new antenna configuration at the transmitter of the transmission link.

15. A method as in claim 10, wherein the at least one multi-element reconfigurable array comprises multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO), single-input-multiple-output (SIMO) or multiple-input-single-output (MISO) transceivers.

16. A method as in claim 10, wherein an antenna configuration at only one end of said transmission link is changed and an end of said transmission link that is not changed is restricted to use the most radiation efficient antenna configuration at all times.

17. A method as in claim 10, wherein selecting the antenna configuration comprises implementing a centralized configuration selection process that has knowledge of part or all communication and interference channels in the ad-hoc network and selecting the antenna configuration that optimizes the sum capacity of the ad-hoc network, the sum throughput of the ad-hoc network, and/or the error rate of the ad-hoc network.

18. A method as in claim 10, wherein selecting the antenna configuration comprises implementing a distributed configuration selection process that selects the antenna configuration using link channel and interference noise plus a noise covariance matrix, a transmission rate, a received signal strength, an error vector magnitude, a channel matrix, and/or a packet error rate for the transmission link including the antenna being configured by optimizing the link capacity, link throughput, or the link packet error rate of said transmission link.