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.
1. A method for routing and switching signals comprising:
providing a plurality of remote radio units, each remote radio unit configured to transmit one or more downlink signals and to receive one or more uplink signals;
providing at least one digital access unit configured to communicate with the plurality of remote radio units;
translating the uplink and downlink signals between RF and base band;
packetizing the uplink and downlink base band signals, wherein the packetized signals correspond to a plurality of carriers, each remote radio unit configured to receive or transmit a respective subset of the plurality of carriers;
routing and switching the packetized signals among the plurality of remote radio units via the at least one digital access unit;
reconfiguring at least one of the plurality of remote radio units by increasing or decreasing the number of carriers in the respective subset of the plurality of carriers; and thereafter
routing and switching the packetized signals among the plurality of 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 reconfiguring each remote radio unit further comprises determining a load 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, wherein determining the load comprises detecting which carriers are active for each remote radio unit.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein reconfiguring each remote radio unit further comprises detecting which carriers are active 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 active carriers.
5. 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.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein the plurality of 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.
7. The method of claim 6 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.
8. The method of claim 7 wherein the first base station and the second base station are associated with different wireless operators.
9. The method of claim 7 wherein the first base station and the second base station are associated with a common wireless operator.
10. The method of claim 7 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.
11. The method of claim 10 wherein the first number of carriers and the second number of carriers correspond to different RF bands.
12. The method of claim 10 wherein the first remote radio unit is configured to receive or transmit RF signals corresponding to one of the second number of carriers.
13. The method of claim 10 wherein the second remote radio unit is configured to receive or transmit RF signals corresponding to one of the first number of carriers.
14. The method of claim 1 wherein each remote radio unit is configured to transmit one or more downlink RF signals and to receive one or more uplink RF signals.
15. A system for transmitting signals, comprising:
a plurality of remote radio units; and
at least one digital access unit configured to communicate with the plurality of remote radio units, wherein the plurality of remote radio units are each configured to packetize uplink signals for transmission to the at least one digital access unit, and the at least one digital access unit is configured to packetize downlink signals for transmission to the plurality of remote radio units, wherein the packetized signals correspond to a plurality of carriers, and each of the plurality of remote radio units is configured to receive or transmit a respective subset of the plurality of carriers,
wherein during a first time period, each of the plurality of remote radio units is configured to receive or transmit the respective subset of the plurality of carriers,
wherein during a second time period, at least one remote radio unit of the plurality of remote radio units is reconfigured to increase or decrease the number of carriers in a first subset of the plurality of carriers, and the at least one remote radio unit is configured to receive or transmit the first subset of the plurality of carriers according to the reconfiguration.
16. The system of claim 15 wherein each carrier corresponds to a respective RF band.
17. The system of claim 15 wherein the at least one remote radio unit is reconfigured to increase or decrease the number of carriers in the first subset of the plurality of carriers based on a load on the a least one remote radio unit.
18. The system of claim 15 wherein the at least one remote radio unit is reconfigured to increase or decrease the number of carriers in the first subset of the plurality of carriers based on a number of active carriers for the at least one remote unit.
19. The system of claim 15 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.
20. The system of claim 15 further comprising a first base station and a second base station, wherein the first digital access unit is configured to communicate with the first base station, and the second digital access unit is configured to communicate with the second base station.