Communication load balancing using distributed antenna beam steering techniques
A load balancing method for cellular communication systems and communication systems in general is described where beam steering antenna systems on the client or user side of the communication link are used to optimize load balancing among the base stations or nodes. A system controller containing an algorithm is implemented to control the radiation modes from the client or user devices to assign the client or user devices to the various base stations or nodes and to dynamically vary the network load across the cellular or communication system.
1. A method of load balancing in a communications network comprising a wireless client device including a modal antenna comprising a parasitic element, the modal antenna configurable in a plurality of radiation modes for uplink and downlink communication, with each of the plurality of radiation modes possessing a different radiation pattern or polarization characteristic; a plurality of base terminals, each base terminal associated with a cell in a plurality of cells in the network and configured to provide uplink and downlink communication capability to the wireless client device when the wireless client device is within the cell; and a system controller coupled to the communication network, the system controller including an algorithm for selecting a radiation mode of the plurality of radiation modes for the wireless client device; the method comprising:
surveying communication link performance of the wireless client device in each of the plurality of radiation modes of the modal antenna with each of the plurality of the base terminals of the communications network that are within a range of the wireless client device; and
selecting the radiation mode for the modal antenna of the wireless client device for uplink and downlink communication based at least in part on balancing of a load across the communications network and based at least in part on the communication link performance between the wireless client device in each of the plurality of radiation modes and each of the plurality of base terminals that are within range of the wireless client device.
2. The method of load balancing in a communications network of claim 1 , wherein SINR (Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio), CQI (Channel Quality Indicator), RSSI (Receive Signal Strength Indicator), BER (Bit Error Rate), or throughput is used to further assign communication link performance.
3. The method of load balancing in a communications network of claim 1 , wherein SINR (Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio), CQI (Channel Quality Indicator), RSSI (Receive Signal Strength Indicator), BER (Bit Error Rate), or throughput averages are predicted over a certain period of time before and used to further assign communication link performance.
4. The method of load balancing in a communications network of claim 1 , wherein downlink communication system performance is increased for network loading across the cells.
5. The method of load balancing in a communications network of claim 1 , wherein uplink communication system performance is increased for network loading across the cells.
6. The method of load balancing in a communications network of claim 1 , wherein both uplink and downlink communication system performance is increased for network loading across the cells.
7. The method of load balancing in a communications network of claim 1 , wherein the algorithm included in the system controller is further configured to implement a decision process across a plurality of wireless client devices connected to the network such that a subset of the plurality of the wireless client devices receive preference over other wireless client devices of the plurality of wireless client devices.
8. The method of load balancing in a communications network of claim 1 , wherein the algorithm included in the system controller is further configured to implement a decision process across a plurality of wireless client devices connected to the network such that communication link performance is equalized across an entire population of the plurality of wireless client devices.
9. The method of load balancing in a communications network of claim 1 , wherein the radiation mode for the wireless client device is selected to off-load a cell of the plurality of cells that has a failure or partial failure mechanism in a fault correction mode.
10. The method of load balancing in a communications network of claim 1 , wherein the modal antenna of the wireless client device comprises a modal single antenna.
11. The method of load balancing in a communications network of claim 10 , wherein selecting radiation modes from the modal antenna of the wireless client device comprises selecting radiation modes of a respective single modal antenna of the wireless client device for uplink and downlink communication to increase balance of the load across the communications network.