WIRELESS SYSTEM WITH CONFIGURABLE RADIO AND ANTENNA RESOURCES
A wireless access device, system and method are disclosed for provisioning multiple concurrent radio services and adaptive management of multi-radio access points or multi-radio small cell base stations.
1 . A wireless access device comprising:
a radio bank including a plurality of independently configurable radios;
an interface matrix coupled to the radio bank, the interface matrix configurable to interconnect the plurality of radios to a plurality of independently configurable antennas; and
an antenna bank coupled to the interface matrix, the antenna bank including the plurality of independently configurable antennas.
2 . The wireless access device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a processor bank including one or more processors, the one or more processors for configuring one or more of the radios, interface matrix and antennas.
3 . The wireless access device of claim 2 , further comprising:
a communication interface coupled to the processor bank and configured to receive and transmit information from a network for dedicating and rededicating assignment of specific radios to specific antennas and configuring the assigned antennas.
4 . The wireless access device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a communication interface coupled to one or more of the radios and configured to receive and transmit information from a network for dedicating and rededicating assignment of specific radios to specific antennas and configuring the assigned antennas.
5 . The wireless access device of claim 3 , where one or more radios interface directly with the communication interface.
6 . The wireless access device of claim 2 , where more than one radio can interface with a single processor.
7 . The wireless access device of claim 1 , where multiple radios are assigned to one spatial sector and configured to provide services to the one spatial sector.
8 . The wireless access device of claim 1 , where the interface matrix is configured to enable interconnections from all, part or a single radio frequency (RF) port of the radios in the radio bank to all, part or a single configurable antenna in the antenna bank.
9 . The wireless access device of claim 1 , where one or more antennas in the antenna bank include planar antennas for which a radiation pattern or polarization is dynamically configured to radiate into one or more spatial sectors.
10 . The wireless access device of claim 1 , where the antenna bank includes a beam forming antenna array.
11 . The wireless access device of claim 1 , where one or more antennas are traveling wave antennas.
12 . The wireless access device of claim 1 , where one or more antennas are planar antennas.
13 . The wireless access device of claim 11 , where one or more of the traveling wave antennas are leaky-wave antennas.
14 . The wireless access device of claim 13 , where one or more of the leaky-wave antennas are metamaterial leaky-wave antennas.
15 . The wireless access device of claim 11 , where more than one traveling wave antennas are configured so that at least two of the beams overlap.
16 . The wireless access device of claim 1 , where the antenna bank comprises one or more antenna arrays where each array includes a multiplicity of configurable antennas.
17 . The wireless access device of claim 1 comprising configurable antennas operating at different frequencies.
18 . The wireless access device of claim 1 comprising a multiplicity of radios implementing more than one wireless technology.
19 . The wireless access device of claim 16 , where the configurable antennas in an array are planar antennas and are fabricated on a common printed circuit board.
20 . The wireless access device of claim 2 , where the processor bank, radio bank and interface matrix are enclosed in a physical unit and the antenna bank is external to the physical unit.
21 . The wireless access device of claim 1 , where more than one radio and more than one antenna are configured to provide different services to one or more spatial sectors.
22 . The wireless access device of claim 1 , where the radio bank and antenna bank are configured based on a function of traffic demand and radio frequency (RF) interference.
23 . A method of configuring radio and antenna resources in a wireless system, comprising:
assigning a plurality of independently configurable radios of a wireless access device to a plurality of independently configurable antennas of the wireless access device;
interconnecting, by an interface matrix of the wireless access device, the plurality of radios assigned to the plurality of independently configurable antennas; and
dynamically configuring the independently configurable antennas to radiate radio frequency into one or more spatial sectors.
24 . The method claim 23 comprising:
receiving and transmitting, by a communication interface of the wireless access device, information from a network for dedicating and rededicating assignment of specific radios to specific antennas and configuring the assigned antennas.
25 . The method of claim 23 , further comprising:
dynamically assigning multiple radios to one spatial sector; and
configuring the radios to provide different services to the one spatial sector.
26 . The method of claim 23 , further comprising:
enabling, by the interface matrix, interconnections from all, part or a single radio frequency (RF) port of the radios in the radio bank to all, part or a single configurable antenna in the antenna bank.
27 . A wireless system with configurable radio and antenna resources, comprising:
a remote server computer configured to run a hypervisor program;
a network coupled to the remote server computer;
a plurality of wireless access devices coupled to the network, each wireless access device including:
a radio bank including a plurality of independently configurable radios;
an interface matrix coupled to the radio bank, the interface matrix configurable to interconnect the plurality of radios to a plurality of independently configurable antennas; and
an antenna bank coupled to the interface matrix, the antenna bank including the plurality of independently configurable antennas.
28 . The system of claim 27 , further comprising:
a processor bank including one or more processors, the one or more processors for configuring one or more of the radios, interface matrix and antennas.
29 . The system of claim 28 , further comprising:
a communication interface coupled to the processor bank and configured to receive and transmit information from a network for dedicating and rededicating assignment of specific radios to specific antennas and configuring the assigned antennas.
30 . The system of claim 27 , where the hypervisor is at least partially implemented by one of the plurality of wireless access devices.