Wireless network element and method for antenna array control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9525204-B2
Application number	US-201013382616-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 15, 2010
Priority date	Jul 6, 2009
Publication date	Dec 20, 2016
Grant date	Dec 20, 2016

Abstract

A wireless network element is operably couplable to an antenna array for communicating with at least one remote wireless communication unit. The antenna array comprises a plurality of radiating elements where at least one first radiating element of the plurality of radiating elements is arranged to create a radiation pattern in a sector of a communication cell. The wireless network element comprises a receiver arranged to receive and process at least one signal from the at least one remote wireless communication unit via the at least one first radiating element. The wireless network element also comprises a beam scanning module for stepping/sweeping the radiation pattern through the sector of the communication cell, such that at least one signal from the at least one remote wireless communication unit is processed to identify signal parameters representative of incoming signal power and angle of arrival of the received at least one signal.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A wireless network element operably couplable to an antenna array, wherein the wireless network element comprises:
a receiver arranged to receive and process at least one signal from at least one remote wireless communication unit via at least one first radiating element of the antenna array;
a beam scanning module arranged to sweep a radiation pattern created by the antenna array through a sector of a communication cell, such that the at least one signal from the at least one remote wireless communication unit is processed by the beam scanning module to identify signal parameters representative of incoming signal power and an angle of arrival index that corresponds to a beam angle to which the incoming signal power is measured, wherein the receiver and the beam scanning module are arranged to operate such that live traffic processing by the wireless network element is undisrupted;
a database operably coupled to the beam scanning module, the database arranged to record values representative of incoming signal power and angle of arrival index for a plurality of remote wireless communication units; and
a signal processor arranged to determine an antenna parameter based on the values in the database and to provide the antenna parameter to a radiating element of the antenna array to thereby enable the radiation pattern to be adjusted.

2. The wireless network element of claim 1 , wherein the beam scanning module is additionally arranged to identify a time parameter associated with the received at least one signal and the database is configured to record the time parameter.

3. The wireless network element of claim 1 , wherein the radiation pattern comprises at least one from a group of:
a measurement beam having a narrow beam; or
two measurement beams including a first measurement beam forming a broad beam and a second measurement beam forming a corresponding broad beam with an additional notch.

4. The wireless network element of claim 1 , further comprising a dedicated signal processing path corresponding to each radiating element of the antenna array.

5. The wireless network element of claim 1 , wherein the beam scanning module comprises a beam power calculation module arranged to calculate the incoming signal power by combining multiple angular diversity paths.

6. The wireless network element of claim 1 , wherein the antenna array comprises an active panel antenna unit, such that the receiver is arranged to receive and process the at least one signal from the at least one remote wireless communication unit via the at least one first radiating element of the active panel antenna unit.

7. The wireless network element of claim 1 , further comprising a controller module operably coupled to the beam scanning module and arranged to control at least one parameter associated with the operation of the beam scanning module with regard to at least one of the following: a scan profile of the antenna array, angular increment of a scan, a number of scan samples to be taken, or a time of scan.

8. The wireless network element of claim 1 , wherein the receiver comprises an automatic gain control module and the beam scanning module is arranged to additionally store automatic gain control information associated with receiving and processing the at least one signal.

9. The wireless network element of claim 1 , wherein the receiver and beam scanning module are arranged to determine a placement of secondary sub-sector receive beams used in call processing.

10. A method for beam scanning using an antenna array in a wireless cellular communication system that comprises a network element operably coupled to the antenna array, the method comprising:
sweeping a radiation pattern created by the antenna array through a sector of a communication cell;
identifying, from at least one signal received using at least one first radiating element of the antenna array, a plurality of signal parameters representative of incoming signal power and an angle of arrival index associated with said sweeping that corresponds to a beam angle to which the incoming signal power is measured of the received at least one signal, wherein said identifying is performed such that live traffic processing by the network element is undisrupted;
recording values representative of incoming signal power and angle of arrival index for a plurality of remote wireless communication units in a database when sweeping the radiation pattern through the sector of the communication cell;
determining an antenna parameter based on the values representative of the incoming signal power and the angle of arrival index associated with said sweeping; and
adjusting the radiation pattern in the sector of the communication cell based on the antenna parameter.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein said sweeping is performed during peak cell loading periods.

12. A computer program product comprising program code that, when executed by a network element, causes the network element to perform operations comprising:
configuring at least one first radiating element of a plurality of radiating elements in an antenna array to create a radiation pattern in a sector of a communication cell;
sweeping the radiation pattern through the sector of the communication cell;
identifying, from at least one signal received by the antenna array, signal parameters representative of incoming signal power and an angle of arrival index associated with said sweeping that corresponds to a beam angle to which the incoming signal power is measured of the received at least one signal, wherein said identifying is performed such that live traffic processing by the network element is undisrupted;
recording values representative of incoming signal power and angle of arrival index for a plurality of remote wireless communication units in a database in connection with said sweeping the radiation pattern through the sector of the communication cell;
determining an antenna parameter based on the the values representative of the incoming signal power and the angle of arrival index from the database following the sweeping; and
adjusting the radiation pattern in the sector of the communication cell based on the antenna parameter.

13. A wireless network element comprising:
a receiver arranged to process signals received from remote wireless communication units in a communication cell;
a beam scanning module in communication with the receiver, the beam scanning module arranged to:
control an antenna element of an antenna array operatively coupled with the wireless network element to sweep a radiation pattern through a sector of the communication cell;
identify signal parameters representative of incoming signal power and an angle of arrival index associated with the signals received from the remote wireless communications units; and
cause values representative of the incoming signal power and the angle of arrival index to be stored in a database such that the values representative of the incoming signal power and the angle of arrival index are accessible subsequent to sweeping the radiation pattern through the sector of the communication cell, wherein the receiver and the beam scanning module are arranged to operate such that live network traffic processing by the wireless network element is undisrupted; and

a signal processor arranged to determine an antenna parameter based on the values representative of the incoming signal power and the angle of arrival index stored in the database, and to provide the antenna parameter to the antenna array.

14. The wireless network element of claim 13 , further comprising a pluralit

Assignees

• O'Keeffe Conor
• Moore Joe
• Analog Devices Global

Inventors

• O'Keeffe Conor
• Moore Joe

Classifications

• H01Q1/246

  specially adapted for base stations · CPC title

• H01Q3/2605 Primary

  Array of radiating elements provided with a feedback control over the element weights, e.g. adaptive arrays · CPC title

• H04W16/28

  using beam steering · CPC title

• H04W16/00

  Network planning, e.g. coverage or traffic planning tools; Network deployment, e.g. resource partitioning or cells structures · CPC title

• H04B7/04 Primary

  using two or more spaced independent antennas · CPC title