Remotely reconfigurable distributed antenna system and methods
The present disclosure is a novel utility of a software defined radio (SDR) based Distributed Antenna System (DAS) that is field reconfigurable and support multi-modulation schemes (modulation-independent), multi-carriers, multi-frequency bands and multi-channels. The present disclosure enables a high degree of flexibility to manage, control, enhance, facilitate the usage and performance of a distributed wireless network such as flexible simulcast, automatic traffic load-balancing, network and radio resource optimization, network calibration, autonomous/assisted commissioning, carrier pooling, automatic frequency selection, frequency carrier placement, traffic monitoring, traffic tagging, pilot beacon, etc. As a result, the SDR DAS can increase the efficiency and traffic capacity of the operators' wireless network.
1. A method for routing and switching RF signals comprising:
providing one or more remote radio units, each remote radio unit configured to transmit one or more downlink RF signals and to receive one or more uplink RF signals;
providing at least one digital access unit configured to communicate with the one or more remote radio units;
translating the uplink and downlink signals between RF and base band as appropriate;
packetizing the uplink and downlink base band signals, wherein the packetized signals correspond to a plurality of carriers;
configuring each remote radio unit to receive or transmit a respective subset of the plurality of carriers, each respective subset of the plurality of carriers including a number of carriers;
reconfiguring each remote radio unit by:
determining a load percentage for each remote radio unit; and
increasing or decreasing the number of carriers in the respective subset of the plurality of carriers based on the load percentage; and
routing and switching the packetized signals among the one or more remote radio units via the at least one digital access unit according to a result of the reconfiguring.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein each carrier corresponds to a respective RF band.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the load percentage comprises detecting which carriers are active for each remote radio unit.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one digital access unit comprises a first digital access unit and a second digital access unit configured to communicate with each other via a first optical cable.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein the one or more remote radio units comprise a first remote radio unit and a second remote radio unit, the first remote radio unit configured to communicate with the first digital access unit via a second optical cable, and the second remote radio unit configured to communicate with the second digital access unit via a third optical cable.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein the first digital access unit is configured to communicate with a first base station, and the second digital access unit is configured to communicate with a second base station.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein the first base station transmits or receives RF signals corresponding to a first number of carriers, and the second base station transmits or receives RF signals corresponding to a second number of carriers.
8. The method of claim 7 wherein the first number of carriers and the second number of carriers correspond to different RF bands.
9. The method of claim 7 wherein the first remote radio unit is configured to receive or transmit RF signals corresponding to one of the second number of carriers.
10. The method of claim 7 wherein the second remote radio unit is configured to receive or transmit RF signals corresponding to one of the first number of carriers.
11. The method of claim 6 wherein the first base station and the second base station are associated with different wireless operators.
12. The method of claim 6 wherein the first base station and the second base station are associated with a common wireless operator.