Abstract:
An antenna apparatus comprising at least one antenna array configured to produce a beam to facilitate wireless communication with at least one other antenna apparatus is described, in which the beam can be electronically steered in an associated beamforming plane by beamforming circuitry. The at least one antenna array has an associated antenna array plane, and an antenna array rotation mechanism is configured to rotate each antenna array in its associated antenna array plane to cause its beamforming plane to rotate. Methods for operating such an antenna apparatus, and for deploying an antenna apparatus in a wireless communication network, are also described.
Abstract:
An apparatus and method of performing a configuration process in the apparatus are provided. The apparatus has a backhaul sub-node to provide a backhaul connection to a communications network which comprises a proxy system. It also has an access sub-node to provide an access cell to which user equipment can connect. In a configuration process the backhaul sub-node performs a backhaul sub-node auto- configuration process comprising connecting to a further network node, determining backhaul sub-node configuration parameters, and storing in the proxy system at least one configuration parameter for the access sub-node in dependence on the backhaul sub-node configuration parameters determined. When the access sub-node then issues an access sub-node auto-configuration request, the proxy system intercepts the access sub-node auto-configuration request and responds to the access sub-node in dependence on the at least one configuration parameter for the access sub-node stored. Transparent to the access sub-node, the backhaul sub-node can thus modify the default configuration which the access sub-node would receive, based on the specific backhaul connectivity which it has established for itself.
Abstract:
An apparatus and method are provided for improving connectivity for items of user equipment in a wireless network. The apparatus has a first antenna system (12) for providing a first sector of a network, and a second antenna system (14) for providing a second sector of the network. Further, the apparatus has a third antenna system (16) for communicating with a base station of the network to provide a common wireless backhaul link for the first sector and the second sector. In addition, an interface (205) is provided to an internet connection of a building in which the apparatus is deployed, and backhaul management circuitry (200) is then arranged, in at least one mode of operation, to control utilisation of both the internet connection and the common wireless backhaul link to provide backhaul connectivity to the network for items of user equipment connected to the apparatus via the first and second antenna systems. Through the use of such an apparatus, it has been found that significant improvements in network coverage can be readily obtained, and further the overall spectral efficiency of the network can be enhanced to improve network capacity, with the backhaul management circuitry maintaining an efficient backhaul connection through the combined use of the common wireless backhaul link and the internet connection.
Abstract:
An antenna apparatus is provided for use as a base station in a wireless network, and additionally a method is provided for performing spatial nulling within such an antenna apparatus. The antenna apparatus has an antenna assembly that employs a reception beam pattern selected from a plurality of reception beam patterns. During a nulling test operation, a reception beam pattern controller is arranged to cause the antenna assembly to employ each of the plurality of reception beam patterns. Quality metric determination circuitry then determines, for each reception beam pattern employed during the nulling test operation, a link quality metric for each of a plurality of wireless terminals, based on communication between those wireless terminals and the base station whilst the antenna assembly is employing that reception beam pattern. Reception beam determination circuitry is then arranged to determine, from the various link quality metrics, a reception beam pattern from amongst the plurality of reception beam patterns that is to be used for a subsequent communication with the plurality of wireless terminals. By such an approach, it is possible to alter a reception beam pattern so as to seek to reduce the effects of an interference source whilst also seeking to maintain an appropriate level of link quality in respect of each of the various wireless terminals that are communicating with the base station.
Abstract:
A system and method are provided for determining a communications schedule for routing data between a plurality of relay nodes forming a wireless relay network. The communications schedule interconnects the plurality of relay nodes by an ordered sequence of communications links, with the communications links being established over a wireless resource comprising a plurality of resource blocks. The method comprises generating a plurality of candidate connectivity patterns for the ordered sequence of communications links and, for each candidate connectivity pattern, generating a plurality of candidate resource allocations for providing the ordered sequence of communications links in accordance with that candidate connectivity pattern. For each candidate connectivity pattern, a level of a performance characteristic is then calculated for a selected combination of the candidate resource allocations associated with that candidate connectivity pattern. Based on a desired level of the performance characteristic, one of the candidate connectivity patterns and its associated selected combination of candidate resource allocations whose calculated level of the performance characteristic meets the desired level is then selected as the communications schedule to be used. In response to a trigger condition, the performance level evaluation process and the selection process are repeated in order to re- select one of the candidate connectivity patterns and its associated selected combination of candidate resource allocations to be used as the communications schedule. Such an approach provides a particularly flexible and adaptive mechanism for seeking to optimise the performance of a wireless relay network.
Abstract:
There is provided a node that includes radio circuitry that wirelessly connects to other devices in a wireless network using either a first radio configuration or a second radio configuration. Scan circuitry determines a first measurement related to using the radio circuitry to connect to an analysed device in the other devices in the first radio configuration and a second measurement related to using the radio circuitry to connect to the analysed device in the second radio configuration. Metric calculation circuitry calculates, for each device in the other devices, a metric, wherein each metric is calculated by applying a first weighting greater than zero to the first measurement obtained for that device and a second weighting greater than zero to the second measurement obtained for that device. Selection circuitry adapted to select one of the other devices in dependence on the metric calculated for each of the other devices.
Abstract:
An apparatus and method are provided for improving connectivity for items of user equipment in a wireless network. The apparatus has a first antenna system for providing a first sector of a telecommunications network, and a second antenna system for providing a second sector of the telecommunications network. Further, the apparatus has a third antenna system for communicating with a base station of the telecommunications network to provide a first wireless backhaul path for the first and second sectors. In addition, a fourth antenna system is used to provide a wireless communication link to facilitate coupling of the apparatus into a mesh network of devices. The mesh network has at least one point of access into the telecommunications network such that the mesh network supports provision of at least one further wireless backhaul path for the first and second sectors. Backhaul management circuitry is then arranged, in at least one mode of operation, to control utilisation of the third antenna system and the fourth antenna system to provide backhaul connectivity to the telecommunications network for at least items of user equipment connected to the apparatus via the first and second antenna systems. Through the use of such an apparatus, it has been found that significant improvements in network coverage can be readily obtained, and further the overall spectral efficiency of the network can be enhanced to improve network capacity, with the backhaul management circuitry maintaining an efficient backhaul connection through the combined use of the first wireless backhaul path and at least one further wireless backhaul path supported via the mesh network.
Abstract:
An apparatus, method of operating the apparatus, and system comprising the apparatus are provided. The apparatus has a backhaul sub-node to provide a backhaul connection to a communications network and an access sub-node to provide an access cell to which user equipment can connect. In response to a configuration trigger a configuration procedure is performed, in which the backhaul sub-node gathers information about the network environment and transmits at least a portion of the information about the network environment to a network management node. The the network management node then generates an access sub-node configuration which it transmits to the access sub-node, where the configuration is dependent on the information about the network environment transmitted to the network management node by the backhaul sub-node. The backhaul sub-node's greater ability to gather information about the network environment thus supports an improved configuration for the access sub-node, without technical input from the user being required.
Abstract:
A method and corresponding apparatus are provided for configuring a wireless network comprising a plurality of nodes to mitigate effects of an external interference source. A subset of nodes of the plurality of nodes are configured to simultaneously participate in an external interference sampling process in which each node of the subset of nodes samples signals received by an antenna array of that node. A measurement report, comprising a signal source angle and a received signal strength, is received from a node. A location of the external interference source is firstly estimated using the measurement report received from the node. The external interference source is then characterised using the estimated location of the external interference source and the received signal strength to calculate for the external interference source at least one of: a source power; a beam width; an antenna bearing; and a front-to-back transmission ratio. Finally the plurality of nodes are configured to mitigate the effects of the external interference source in dependence on a result of the characterising step.
Abstract:
A method and corresponding apparatus are provided for network configuration selection in a wireless network comprising a plurality of nodes. A subset of nodes of the plurality of nodes are configured to simultaneously participate in a sounding process, in which a node of the subset omni-directionally transmits a predetermined signal and in which other nodes of the subset of nodes sample the predetermined signal as received by an omni-directional antenna array of that node. Measurement reports are received from the subset of nodes, each measurement report comprising a signal source angle and a received signal strength. A path loss is determined in dependence on each measurement report to generate a set of path losses covering a plurality of transmitter node receiver node pairs. Then a directional configuration is selected for a directional antenna of each node of the subset of nodes to use in data transmission in dependence on the set of path losses.