Wireless system with configurable radio and antenna resources

1. A wireless access device comprising:

a radio bank comprising multiple radios assignable to a plurality of spatial sectors, each of the multiple radios providing, during operation of the wireless access device, a radio frequency communication signal, wherein, when two radios from among the multiple radios are assigned to the same spatial sector of the plurality of spatial sectors, the two radios are operated on two isolated channels;

an antenna bank coupled to the radio bank, the antenna bank including a plurality of planar antennas;

a processor bank including one or more processors; and

non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the processor bank to perform operations comprising:

(i) assigning the multiple radios of the radio bank to corresponding spatial sectors of the plurality of spatial sectors, including assigning two radios from among the multiple radios to a spatial sector of the plurality of spatial sectors, and operating the two radios on two isolated channels,

(ii) assigning, to a given radio that has been assigned to a particular spatial sector, an antenna from among the plurality of antennas which can radiate into the particular spatial sector a radio frequency communication signal provided by the given radio,

(iii) configuring the assigned antenna to radiate into the particular spatial sector the provided radio frequency communication signal, and

(iv) dynamically reassigning the multiple radios of the radio bank to other complementary spatial sectors of the plurality of sectors apart from the particular spatial sectors, in response to receiving and transmitting information from a network for dedicating and rededicating assignment of specific radios to specific antennas, and configuring the reassigned antennas.

2. The wireless access device of claim 1 , wherein

in response to receiving information indicating traffic volume below a first threshold, the dynamically reassigning the multiple radios comprises deactivating the multiple radios except for a first radio assigned to a 360° spatial sector and operated on a single channel, and

the operations performed by the processor bank comprise

(i) assigning, to the first radio, one or more planar antennas that can radiate in the 360° spatial sector, and

(ii) configuring one or more planar antennas to radiate, into the 360° spatial sector, RF communication signals provided by the first radio.

3. The wireless access device of claim 1 , further comprising:

a communication interface coupled to the processor bank and configured to receive and transmit the information from the 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 , where more than one radio can interface with a single processor.

5. The wireless access device of claim 1 , wherein

two or more of the multiple radios are assigned to one spatial sector and configured to provide services concurrently to the one spatial sector,

in response to receiving information indicating different QOS guarantees for mobile devices connected to a communications network through the wireless access device, the dynamically reassigning the multiple radios comprises deactivating the multiple radios except for a first radio assigned to a first spatial sector and operated on a first channel, and a second radio assigned to the first spatial sector and operated on a second channel different from the first channel, wherein the second channel has less interference, transmits with higher power, admits fewer users, or uses farther channel reuse, and

the operations performed by the processor bank comprise

(i) assigning to the first radio a first subset of planar antennas that can radiate in the first sector and to the second radio a second subset of planar antennas that can radiate in the first sector, and

(ii) configuring the first subset of planar antennas to radiate, into the first spatial sector, RF communication signals provided by the first radio, and the second subset of planar antennas to radiate, into the first spatial sector, RF communication signals provided by the second radio.

6. The wireless access device of claim 1 , where one or more of the planar antennas are traveling wave antennas.

7. The wireless access device of claim 1 , where one or more of the planar antennas are leaky-wave antennas.

8. The wireless access device of claim 7 , where one or more of the leaky-wave antennas are metamaterial leaky-wave antennas.

9. The wireless access device of claim 1 , where the processor bank and the radio bank are enclosed in a physical unit and the antenna bank is external to the physical unit.

10. The wireless access device of claim 1 , where the antenna bank includes one or more antenna arrays where each array comprises a multiplicity of configurable antennas.

11. The wireless access device of claim 10 , where at least one antenna array is fabricated on a common printed circuited board.

12. The wireless access device of claim 1 comprising configurable antennas operating at different frequencies.

13. The wireless access device of claim 1 , wherein the multiple radios implement more than one wireless technology.

14. The wireless access device of claim 1 , where at least two of the spatial sectors overlap.

15. The wireless access device of claim 1 , wherein

in response to receiving information indicating traffic volume between a first threshold and a second threshold, the dynamically reassigning the multiple radios comprises deactivating the multiple radios except for a first radio assigned to a first spatial sector, and a second radio assigned to a second spatial sector complementary to the first spatial sector, and

the operations performed by the processor bank comprise

(i) assigning, to the first radio, a first subset of planar antennas that can radiate in the first spatial sector and, to the second radio, a second subset of planar antennas that can radiate in the second spatial sector, and

(ii) configuring the first subset of planar antennas to radiate, into the first spatial sector, RF communication signals provided by the first radio, and the second subset of planar antennas to radiate, into the second spatial sector, RF communication signals provided by the second radio.

16. The wireless access device of claim 1 , wherein

in response to receiving information indicating traffic volume above a first threshold, the dynamically reassigning the multiple radios comprises deactivating the multiple radios except for a first radio assigned to a first spatial sector, a second radio assigned to a second spatial sector complementary to the first spatial sector and operated on a first channel, and a third radio assigned to the second spatial sector and operated on a second channel different from the first channel, and

the operations performed by the processor bank comprise

(i) assigning, to the first radio, a first subset of planar antennas that can radiate in the first spatial sector, to the second radio, a second subset of planar antennas that can radiate in the second spatial sector, and to the third radio, a third subset of planar antennas that can radiate in the second spatial sector,

(ii) configuring the first subset of planar antennas to radiate, into the first spatial sector, RF communication signals provided by the first radio, the second subset of planar antennas to radiate, into the second spatial sector, RF communication signals provided by the second radio, and the third subset of planar antennas to radiate, into the second spatial sector, RF communication signals provided by the third radio.

17. The wireless access device of claim 1 , wherein the two isolated channels, on which the two radios assigned to the same spatial sector are operated, belong to the same RF band.

18. The wireless access device of claim 1 , wherein the assigning of the multiple radios of the radio bank to corresponding spatial sectors of the plurality of spatial sectors comprises assigning at least two radios to each of at least two spatial sectors of the plurality of spatial sectors.

19. The wireless access device of claim 18 , where for at least a spatial sector, the at least two of the radios assigned to the spatial sector are configured to provide different services.

20. The wireless access device of claim 18 , where for at least a spatial sector, the at least two of the radios assigned to the spatial sector are configured to provide radio frequency communication signals using different radio frequency communication technologies.