Antenna-integrated radio with wireless fronthaul

1. A system, comprising:

a wireless fronthaul access point coupled to a radio mast and in communication with a remote baseband unit, the wireless fronthaul access point further comprising a first millimeter wave wireless interface; and

an antenna-integrated radio for providing access to user equipments (UEs), mounted within line of sight on the radio mast with the wireless fronthaul access point, the antenna-integrated radio further comprising:

a second millimeter wave wireless interface configured to receive digital I and Q signaling information from the remote baseband unit wirelessly via the wireless fronthaul access point,

a radio transceiver configured to receive the digital I and Q signaling information and output an access radio signal,

a power amplifier coupled to the radio transceiver and configured to amplify the access radio signal from the radio transceiver, the power amplifier contained within an enclosure of the antenna-integrated radio,

a radio frequency (RF) filter coupled to the power amplifier and configured to filter the access radio signal from the power amplifier, and

an antenna coupled to the RF filter for transmitting the access radio signal, thereby providing access to user equipments (UEs) via the transmitted access radio signal;

wherein the wireless fronthaul access point thereby wirelessly couples the remote baseband unit and the antenna-integrated radio.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the antenna-integrated radio provides at least one channel of a multi-channel multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) antenna configuration.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the antenna-integrated radio is configured to provide Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless access to UEs.

4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a remote baseband unit in communication with the wireless fronthaul access point configured to perform processing of the digital I and Q signaling information and to send the processed digital I and Q signaling information to the wireless fronthaul access point.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the wireless fronthaul access point further comprises an optical fiber or Ethernet connection to the remote baseband unit.

6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a second and a third antenna-integrated radio for providing three sector coverage of an area, mounted on the radio mast in a triangular configuration with the antenna-integrated radio, each in communication with the wireless fronthaul access point for digital I and Q signaling information from the baseband unit.

7. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a second antenna-integrated radio, the antenna-integrated radio and the second antenna-integrated radio further comprising a synchronization chip or using global positioning system (GPS) hardware for synchronization.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the antenna-integrated radio and the wireless fronthaul access point each further comprise a synchronization chip or global positioning system (GPS) hardware for synchronization.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first and second millimeter wave wireless interfaces are 60 GHz interfaces, and wherein the antenna-integrated radio further comprises an additional 2.4 GHz radio and an additional 60 GHz interface.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the antenna-integrated radio is in communication with adjacent antenna-integrated radios mounted on the radio mast via a WiGig mesh network and is configured for coordinated multiple-in, multiple-out (MIMO) operation with the adjacent antenna-integrated radios.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the antenna-integrated radio is configured to be installed via a zero-insertion force (ZIF) docking power socket by a drone.

12. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of additional antenna-integrated radios configured to communicate with the wireless fronthaul access point in a daisy chain topology via the antenna-integrated radio.

13. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of additional antenna-integrated radios configured as slave antennas of the antenna-integrated radio.

14. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of additional antenna-integrated radios configured to communicate with each other and with the wireless fronthaul access point in a mesh network.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein the wireless fronthaul access point is configured to accommodate multiple-in, multiple-out (MIMO), inter-cell interference cancellation (ICIC), crest factor reduction (CFR), or digital pre-distortion (DPD) processing of the digital I and Q signaling information.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein the wireless fronthaul access point is configured to provide a fronthaul access point for multiple-in, multiple-out (MIMO) signals, and further comprising a plurality of additional antenna-integrated radios synchronized with the wireless fronthaul access point to enable coordinated processing of individual MIMO signals.

17. A method, comprising:

at an antenna-integrated radio:

receiving, at a millimeter wave wireless interface, a digital I and Q signaling information from a remote baseband unit wirelessly via a wireless fronthaul access point;

receiving, at a radio transceiver, the digital I and Q signaling information to output an access radio signal;

amplifying, at a power amplifier coupled to the radio transceiver internally within the antenna-integrated radio, the access radio signal from the radio transceiver;

filtering, at a radio frequency (RF) filter coupled to the power amplifier internally within the antenna-integrated radio, the access radio signal from the power amplifier; and

transmitting, at an antenna coupled to the RF filter internally within the antenna-integrated radio, the access radio signal,

thereby providing access to user equipments (UEs) via the transmitted radio access radio signal.