Flexible, reconfigurable multipoint-to-multipoint digital radio frequency transport architecture

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9385797-B2
Application number	US-201314090129-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 26, 2013
Priority date	Nov 26, 2012
Publication date	Jul 5, 2016
Grant date	Jul 5, 2016

Abstract

A distributed antenna system includes network interfaces configured to receive signals from devices external to distributed antenna system and to convert signals to downlink serialized data streams; distributed antenna switch communicatively coupled to network interfaces by digital communication links, distributed antenna switch configured to receive downlink serialized data stream from network interfaces across corresponding digital communication link; distributed antenna switch further configured to aggregate downlink serialized data streams into aggregate downlink serialized data stream; remote antenna unit communicatively coupled to distributed antenna switch by digital communication link that receives aggregate downlink serialized data stream across digital communication link, remote antenna unit further configured to extract downlink serialized data streams from aggregate downlink serialized data stream; remote antenna unit having radio frequency converter configured to convert downlink serialized data stream into radio frequency band and radio frequency transceiver/antenna pair configured to transmit signals in radio frequency band to subscriber unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A distributed antenna system comprising:
a plurality of network interfaces, each of the plurality of network interfaces configured to receive signals from one of a plurality of devices external to the distributed antenna system and to convert the signals to a downlink serialized data stream;
a distributed antenna switch communicatively coupled to the plurality of network interfaces by a first plurality of digital communication links, the distributed antenna switch configured to receive the downlink serialized data stream from each of the plurality of network interfaces across each corresponding digital communication link of the first plurality of digital communication links;
the distributed antenna switch further including a first plurality of downlink selector/summer functions, each configurable to operate as at least one of a downlink selector and a downlink summer;
while operating as a downlink selector, any of the first plurality of downlink selector/summer functions are configured to generate an aggregate downlink serialized data stream by selecting and interleaving portions of at least two of the plurality of downlink serialized data streams into the aggregate downlink serialized data stream;
while operating as a downlink summer, any of the first plurality of downlink selector/summer functions are configured to generate the aggregate downlink serialized data stream by digitally summing data from timeslots of at least two of the plurality of downlink serialized data streams into the aggregate downlink serialized data stream;
a remote antenna unit communicatively coupled to the distributed antenna switch by a second digital communication link and configured to receive the aggregate downlink serialized data stream across the second digital communication link;
the remote antenna unit having at least one radio frequency converter configured to convert at least a portion of the aggregate downlink serialized data stream into at least one radio frequency band and at least one radio frequency transceiver and antenna pair configured to transmit signals in the at least one radio frequency band to at least one subscriber unit.

2. The distributed antenna system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one remote antenna unit includes a plurality of radio frequency converters, a plurality of radio frequency transceiver and antenna pairs;
wherein each radio frequency converter of the plurality of radio frequency converters is configured to convert a different downlink serialized data stream into a different radio frequency band; and
wherein each radio frequency transceiver and antenna pair is configured to transmit a different corresponding radio frequency band to at least one subscriber unit.

3. The distributed antenna system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one remote antenna unit includes a plurality of radio frequency converters;
wherein each radio frequency converter of the plurality of radio frequency converters is configured to convert a different downlink serialized data stream into a different radio frequency band; and
wherein a single radio frequency transceiver and antenna pair is configured to transmit a plurality of different radio frequency bands to at least one subscriber unit.

4. The distributed antenna system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the downlink serialized data streams is at a first data rate;
wherein the aggregate downlink serialized data stream is at a second data rate; and
wherein the second data rate is faster than the first data rate.

5. The distributed antenna system of claim 1 , wherein while operating as a downlink selector, any of the first plurality of downlink selector/summer functions are configured to generate the aggregate downlink serialized data stream by mapping timeslots from each of the at least two of the plurality of downlink serialized data streams to timeslots within the aggregate downlink serialized data stream.

6. The distributed antenna system of claim 1 , where at least one of the plurality of downlink serialized data streams is a serialized baseband data stream.

7. The distributed antenna system of claim 1 , further comprising a second remote antenna unit communicatively coupled to the distributed antenna switch by a third digital communication link and configured to receive the aggregate downlink serialized data stream across the third digital communication link;
the second remote antenna unit having a second radio frequency converter configured to convert at least a second portion of the aggregate downlink serialized data stream into at least a second radio frequency band and at least a second radio frequency transceiver and antenna pair configured to transmit signals in the at least the second radio frequency band to at least one subscriber unit.

8. The distributed antenna system of claim 1 , wherein a first downlink selector/summer function of the first plurality of downlink selector/summer functions is operating as a downlink selector, providing a first aggregate downlink serialized data stream to the remote antenna unit, the first aggregate downlink serialized data stream including portions of at least two of the plurality of downlink serialized data streams;
wherein a second downlink selector/summer function of the first plurality of downlink selector/summer functions is operating as a downlink summer, providing a second aggregate downlink serialized data stream to a second remote antenna unit communicatively coupled to the distributed antenna switch by a third digital communication link and configured to receive the second aggregate downlink serialized data stream across the third digital communication link, the second aggregate downlink serialized data stream including a digital summation of data from timeslots of at least two of the plurality of downlink serialized data streams;
the second remote antenna unit having a second radio frequency converter configured to convert the second aggregate downlink serialized data stream into at least a second radio frequency band and at least a second radio frequency transceiver and antenna pair configured to transmit signals in the at least a second radio frequency band to at least one subscriber unit.

9. The distributed antenna system of claim 1 , wherein a first network interface of the plurality of network interfaces is communicatively coupled to a base station, wherein the first network interface is configured to receive the at least one radio frequency band from the base station and to convert the at least one radio frequency band to a first downlink serialized data stream of the plurality of downlink serialized data streams.

10. The distributed antenna system of claim 1 , further comprising a serial link combiner interposed between at least two of the plurality of network interfaces and the distributed antenna switch, the serial link combiner configured to aggregate downlink serialized data streams from the at least two of the plurality of network interfaces into a second aggregate downlink serialized data stream; and
the distributed antenna switch further configured to receive the second aggregate downlink serialized data stream from the serial link combiner interposed between the at least two of the plurality of network interfaces and the distributed antenna switch.

11. The distributed antenna system of claim 1 , further comprising a serial link simulcaster interposed between the distributed antenna switch and the remote antenna unit, the serial link simulcaster configured to receive the aggregate downlink serialized data stream and to simulcast the aggregate downlink serialized data stream to the remote antenna unit and a second remote antenna unit;
wherein the seco

Assignees

• Adc Telecommunications Inc
• Commscope Technologies Llc

Inventors

• Zavadsky Dean
• Forland Jody
• Fischer Larry G
• Wala Philip M

Classifications

• H04B7/0602 Primary

  using antenna switching (H04B7/0686 takes precedence; antenna beam directivity switching H01Q3/24) · CPC title

• H04B7/0802 Primary

  using antenna selection (H04B7/0868 takes precedence; antenna beam directivity switching H01Q3/24) · CPC title

• H04L49/351

  for local area network [LAN], e.g. Ethernet switches · CPC title

• H04L49/25

  Routing or path finding in a switch fabric · CPC title