Soft hand-off and routing data in a virtualized distributed antenna system
In some embodiments of the invention, a system for managing resource use in a Distributed Antenna System is provided. The system may include: a plurality of Digital Remote Units (DRUs) configured to send and receive wireless radio signals; a plurality of sectors, each configured to send and receive wireless radio signals; and a plurality of inter-connected Digital Access Units (DAUs), each configured to communicate with at least one of the DRUs via optical signals, and each being coupled to at least one of the sectors.
1 . A distributed antenna system comprising:
a plurality of Digital Remote Units (DRUs) configured to send and receive wireless radio signals;
a plurality of sectors, each configured to send and receive wireless radio signals;
a plurality of Digital Access Units (DAUs), each configured to communicate with at least one of the DRUs, and each being coupled to at least one of the sectors;
a processor configured to:
assign a DRU of the plurality of DRUs to a first sector of the plurality of sectors,
reassign the DRU to a second sector of the plurality of sectors, the second sector being different from the first sector; and
shift a radio resource from being supplied by the first sector to being supplied by the second sector and wherein the first sector is associated with a first carrier, the second sector is associated with a second carrier;
an algorithm for determining the power of a signal from one of the plurality of DRUs to the first sector of the plurality of sectors and the power of the same signal from the same one of the plurality of DRUs to the second sector of the plurality of sectors, wherein the first and second sectors are associated with different carriers.
2 . A distributed antenna system comprising:
a plurality of Digital Remote Units (DRUs) configured to send and receive wireless radio signals;
a plurality of sectors, each configured to send and receive wireless radio signals:
a plurality of inter-connected Digital Access Units (DAUs), each configured to communicate with at least one of the DRUs, and each being coupled to at least one of the sectors;
a processor configured to:
assign a DRU of the plurality of DRUs to a first sector of the plurality of sectors,
reassign the DRU to a second sector of the plurality of sectors, the second sector being different from the first sector; and shift a radio resource from being supplied by the first sector to being supplied by the second sector and wherein the first sector is associated with a first carrier, the second sector is associated with a second carrier and an algorithm for determining the power of a signal from one of the plurality of DRUs to one of the plurality of sectors and the power of the same signal from the same one of the plurality of DRUs to another of the plurality of sectors.
3 . The system of claim 2 wherein the algorithm is nonlinear.
4 . The system of claim 2 wherein the at least two of the sectors are associated with different carriers, and the power of each carrier supplied to each DRU of the plurality of DRUs is independently controlled.
5 . The system of claim 1 wherein the DRUs are connected in a loop to a plurality of DAUs.
6 . The system of claim 1 wherein a single DAU port is coupled to a plurality of the sectors.
7 . The system of claim 1 further comprising a server configured to route signals between the plurality of DAUs.
8 . The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of sectors comprises multiple sectors from one Base Transceiver Station.
9 . The system of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of DAUs is configured to communicate with the at least one of the DRUs by sending and receiving signals over at least one of an optical fiber, an Ethernet cable, microwave line of sight link, wireless link, or satellite link.
10 . The system of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of DAUs is further configured to convert a radio signal received from the at least one sector to an optical signal.
11 . The system of claim 1 wherein each of the DAUs is co-located with the at least one sector.
12 . The system of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of DAUs is connected to a plurality of DRUs.
13 . The system of claim 1 wherein at least some of the DRUs are connected in a daisy chain configuration.
14 . The system of claim 1 wherein the DRUs are connected to the DAUs in a star configuration.
15 . The system of claim 1 further comprising a dynamic database comprising sector assignments for each of the plurality of DRUs, wherein the database is accessible by the plurality of DAUs.
16 . A distributed antenna system comprising:
a plurality of Digital Remote Units (DRUs) configured to send and receive wireless radio signals;
a plurality of sectors, each configured to send and receive wireless radio signals;
a plurality Digital Access Units (DAUs), each configured to communicate with at least one of the DRUs, and each being coupled to at least one of the sectors; and
a processor, configured to execute an algorithm for determining the power of a signal from one of the pluralities of DRUs to one of the plurality of sectors and the power of the same signal from the same one of the plurality of DRUs to another of the plurality of sectors,
assign a DRU of the plurality of DRUs to a first sector of the plurality of sectors,
reassign the DRU to a second sector of the plurality of sectors, the second sector being different from the first sector, and
shift a radio resource from being supplied by the first sector to being supplied by the second sector, wherein the first sector is associated with a first carrier, the second sector is associated with a second carrier.
17 . The system of claim 16 wherein the processor is configured to: assign a DRU of the plurality of DRUs to a first sector of the plurality of sectors.
18 . The system of claim 16 wherein the processor is configured to: assign a DRU of the plurality of DRUs to a first sector of the plurality of sectors, and reassign the DRU to a second sector of the plurality of sectors, the second sector being different from the first sector.
19 . The system of claim 16 wherein the processor is configured to: shift a radio resource from being supplied by a first sector of the plurality of sectors to being supplied by a second sector of the plurality of sectors and wherein the first sector is associated with a first carrier, and the second sector is associated with a second carrier.