System and method for interference mitigation for wireless communication
View Patent ↗Disclosed are systems and methods which provide interference mitigation by making alternative resources available within areas served by wireless communication links. Embodiments provide multiple channel availability in establishing wireless communication links to facilitate interference mitigation. Time domain techniques, spatial processing techniques, and/or frequency domain techniques may be implemented for spectrum management. Embodiments provide wireless base station configurations in which all or a plurality of base station sectors use a same frequency channel and/or in which each sector or a plurality of sectors use all frequency channels. Multi-channel strategies may be implemented such as to provide dynamic selection of a “best” frequency channel, to provide transmission of identical data on multiple channels for combining/selection at the receiver, and/or to provide for dividing the data for transmission on multiple channels.
1. A method for providing wireless communication, the method comprising:
providing a plurality of frequency channels in each of a plurality of portions of a service area, wherein the plurality of frequency channels are in an unlicensed frequency band, wherein a same frequency channel of the plurality of frequency channels is provided for use in two or more adjacent portions of the service area; and
mitigating interference associated with external interference sources by making particular channels of the plurality of channels available for use by network nodes disposed in the portions of the service area according to a two tier scheduling strategy,
wherein a first tier of the scheduling strategy includes assigning the plurality of frequency channels to each portion of the service area at a relatively slow pace;
wherein a second tier of the scheduling strategy includes allocating the assigned frequency channels resulting from the first tier of the scheduling strategy among the network nodes disposed in each portion of the service area in real-time; and
wherein the network nodes are selected for simultaneous use of said particular channels as a function of spatial characteristic groupings of said network nodes.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of mitigating interference comprises:
selecting a channel from said plurality of channels for communication with a particular network node using adaptive dynamic channel selection to identify a channel having a best communication attribute with respect to said network node.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of mitigating interference further comprises:
selecting a time division of said particular channels for use in communicating with particular network nodes based upon dynamically determined communication link metrics.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of mitigating interference comprises:
selecting at least two channels from said plurality of channels for communication with a particular network node such that transmission of identical data on said at least two channels is provided for post data selection.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of mitigating interference comprises:
selecting at least two channels from said plurality of channels for communication with a particular network node such that data is divided for transmission on said at least two channels for time/frequency coding.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of mitigating interference comprises:
limiting transmission duty cycles of network nodes with respect to each active channel of said plurality of channels.
7. The method of claim 3 , wherein the dynamically determined communication link metrics comprise one of: interference level information, signal propagation level information, traffic load information, and quality of service information.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein said mitigating interference comprises assigning a different channel of said plurality of channels for use by a particular network node in an uplink and a downlink.
9. A wireless communication network system, comprising:
a plurality of communication sectors of a service area, wherein each communication sector has a plurality of network nodes and a plurality of channels associated therewith, and wherein adjacent ones of said communication sectors have at least one same channel of said plurality of channels associated therewith; and
channel management control apparatus making particular channels of said plurality of channels available for use by the network nodes as a function of external interference experienced with respect to one or more channels of said plurality of channels,
wherein the channel management control apparatus implements an at least two tier channel scheduling strategy;
wherein a first tier of the channel scheduling strategy includes assigning the plurality of channels to each communication sector at a first rate, and where a second tier of the channel scheduling strategy includes allocating the assigned channels resulting from the first tier of the channel scheduling strategy among the network nodes in each communication sector in real-time, the first rate being less than real-time;
wherein the first tier of the channel scheduling strategy assigns transmission time period opportunities to communication network base station nodes to support groups of subscriber station nodes;
wherein the second tier of the channel scheduling strategy assigns transmission time periods among subscriber station nodes of the groups of subscriber station nodes; and
wherein the channel management control apparatus makes a different channel of the plurality of channels available for use by a particular network node in an uplink and a downlink.