A microcellular communications network includes a plurality of base station units and corresponding antenna units. The base station units are housed in a common location. Each includes either conventional transmitters and receivers or all digital transmitter and receiver equipment, and interface circuitry to a mobile telecommunications switching office. The microcell traffic output is applied to a frame generator/multiplexer. The output of the frame generator/multiplexer is applied to a digitally modulated laser. The laser output is conveyed by fiber to a remote antenna unit, which demultiplexes the microcell traffic signal and applies it to a digital-to-analog converter. The output of the digital-to-analog converter is applied to a power amplifier, which in turn is connected to a main antenna. RF signals from the mobile units are received at both a main and a diversity antenna. The received signals are filtered, digitized, multiplexed together and transmitted over the optical fiber back to the base station. The strongest signal is selected for use.

Cellular communications system with centralized base stations and distributed antenna units

The communication system includes a hybrid fiber/coax distribution network. A head end provides for downstream transmission of telephony and control data in a first frequency bandwidth over the hybrid fiber/coax distribution network and reception of upstream telephony and control data in a second frequency bandwidth over the hybrid fiber/coax distribution network. The head end includes a head end multicarrier modem for modulating downstream telephony information on a plurality of orthogonal carriers in the first frequency bandwidth and demodulating upstream telephony information modulated on a plurality of orthogonal carriers in the second frequency bandwidth. The system includes service units, operatively connected to the hybrid fiber/coax distribution network for upstream transmission of telephony and control data and for receipt of the downstream control data and telephony. Also provided is a method and apparatus for performing a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT).

Communication system with multicarrier telephony transport

Systems and methods for IP communication over a distributed antenna system transport are provided. In one embodiment, a method for providing Ethernet connectivity over a distributed antenna system comprises receiving internet protocol (IP) formatted data from an internet protocol device coupled to a remote unit of a distributed antenna system; sampling wireless radio frequency (RF) signals received at the remote unit to produce digitized RF samples; generating a serial data stream for output to a host unit of the distributed antenna system, the serial data stream further comprising a multiple-timeslot communication frame providing a first partition of bandwidth for transporting the digitized RF samples and a second partition of bandwidth for implementing an Ethernet pipe for transporting the IP formatted data.

Systems and methods for ip communication over a distributed antenna system transport

A distributed antenna system comprises a base transceiver station, a plurality of distributed antenna units and a signal routing apparatus. The base transceiver station has a plurality of output ports that generate a plurality of downlink signals having overlapping transmit frequencies and containing different communication content. The different communication content is directed toward each of a plurality of mobile units. The base transceiver station also has at least one uplink receive port that receives an uplink signal. The uplink signal includes communication content received from at least one of the mobile units. The plurality of distributed antenna units have coverage areas that are non-overlapping or only partially overlapping. The signal routing apparatus routes the downlink signals to the plurality of distributed antennas such that each of the plurality of downlink signals are transmitted by one or more of the distributed antennas and each distributed antenna only transmits one of the downlink signals.

Distributed antenna communications system

A distributed antenna system comprises a plurality of antennas and a multi-port hub. The multi-port hub comprises an interface to a telecommunications network and a plurality of transceivers. The multi-port hub is configured to operate in a first mode ('normal' mode) in which the multi-port hub receives a downlink communications signal via the interface and distributes the downlink communications signal to the plurality of antennas using a selected downlink transmission frequency within a downlink frequency range and in which the multi-port hub receives uplink communications signals from the plurality of antennas at a selected uplink receive frequency. The multi-port hub is also configured to operate in a second mode ('listening' mode) in which the multi-port hub receives communications signals from the plurality of antennas at one or more frequencies within the downlink frequency range. The transmission frequency for the first mode ('normal' mode) may be selected based on field strength of the signals received in the second mode ('listening' mode).

System for and method of configuring distributed antenna communications system

A zoned microcell system (1) with sector scanning for cellular telephone systems has a plurality of contiguous cells, each having a different assigned set of transmission frequency channels, and handoff capability for maintaining communication from cell to cell. The system includes at least one cell (11) having a plurality of antenna sets (13, 15, 17). Each set is positioned at a respective sub-site (10, 16, 18), and configured so that propagation and reception of signals is limited to a transmission zone (13z, 15z, 17z) within the boundaries of, and which is less in area than the cell. A control device (79) monitors the strength of the signal received by each antenna set. Transmission, at each frequency channel, is confined to the antenna set having the strongest received signal thus limiting signal propagation to that transmission zone. In one embodiment, signal strength monitoring is provided at each sub-site, thus transmission is confined to a specific sub-set of antennas at the sub-site, and to a limited sector (115x, 115y, 115z) within the transmission zone.

William Chien-Yeh Lee

Papers

Zoned microcell with sector scanning for cellular telephone systems