Intra-node channel reciprocity compensation for radio access in MIMO wireless communication systems

1. A method, comprising:

for each antenna of M antennas of a wireless cellular base station:

transmitting, by the antenna, a calibration pilot symbol over the air; and

receiving, by the other M−1 antennas, the calibration pilot symbol over the air;

selecting one of the M antennas as a reference antenna;

for each antenna of the M antennas:

calculating channel reciprocity calibration coefficients of the antenna with respect to the reference antenna based on the received calibration pilot symbols;

applying the calculated channel reciprocity calibration coefficients within receive and/or transmit path circuitry of the base station; and

wherein said applying the calculated channel reciprocity calibration coefficients within receive and/or transmit path circuitry of the base station comprises:

for each antenna of the M antennas, averaging the calculated channel reciprocity calibration coefficients associated with the antenna over all subcarriers of a plurality of subcarriers to obtain a single coefficient for the antenna and applying the single coefficient within the receive and/or transmit path circuitry.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

wherein said transmitting the calibration pilot symbols over the air is performed in a manner selected from one or more of the following list of manners:

a time-multiplexed manner;

a frequency-multiplexed manner; and

a code-multiplexed manner.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

wherein said transmitting the calibration pilot symbols over the air in a frequency-multiplexed manner comprises using a different frequency subcarrier per antenna of the M antennas.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

wherein the different subcarrier frequencies are staggered over multiple symbols.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

wherein said applying the calculated channel reciprocity calibration coefficients within receive and/or transmit path circuitry of the base station comprises:

for each antenna of the M antennas, using a corresponding one of the calculated channel reciprocity calibration coefficients for each subcarrier of a plurality of subcarriers at the antenna within the receive and/or transmit path circuitry.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

wherein said using one of the calculated channel reciprocity calibration coefficients for each subcarrier of a plurality of subcarriers at the antenna within the transmit path circuitry comprises:

digitally multiplying the subcarrier by the corresponding reciprocity calibration coefficient prior to being converted to an analog signal and upconverted into an output radio frequency signal transmitted from the antenna.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

wherein said using one of the calculated channel reciprocity calibration coefficients for each subcarrier of a plurality of subcarriers at the antenna within the receive path circuitry comprises:

digitally multiplying the subcarrier by the corresponding reciprocity calibration coefficient after being downconverted from a radio frequency signal received at the antenna and converted to digital samples.

8. A wireless cellular base station, comprising:

M antennas;

one or more processing devices;

for each antenna of the M antennas:

the antenna transmits a calibration pilot symbol over the air; and

the other M−1 antennas receive the calibration pilot symbol over the air;

the one or more processing devices select one of the M antennas as a reference antenna;

for each antenna of the M antennas:

the one or more processing devices calculate channel reciprocity calibration coefficients of the antenna with respect to the reference antenna based on the received calibration pilot symbols;

transmit path circuitry;

receive path circuitry; and

wherein the one or more programming devices apply the calculated channel reciprocity calibration coefficients within the receive and/or transmit path circuitry;

wherein to apply the calculated channel reciprocity calibration coefficients within receive and/or transmit path circuitry, the one or more processing devices:

for each antenna of the M antennas, averages the calculated channel reciprocity calibration coefficients associated with the antenna over all subcarriers of a plurality of subcarriers to obtain a single coefficient for the antenna and applies the single coefficient within the receive and/or transmit path circuitry.

9. The wireless cellular base station of claim 8 , further comprising:

wherein the base station transmits the calibration pilot symbols over the air in a manner from one or more of the following list of manners:

a time-multiplexed manner;

a frequency-multiplexed manner; and

a code-multiplexed manner.

10. The wireless cellular base station of claim 9 , further comprising:

wherein to transmit the calibration pilot symbols over the air in a frequency-multiplexed manner, the base station uses a different frequency subcarrier per antenna of the M antennas.

11. The wireless cellular base station of claim 10 , further comprising:

wherein the different subcarrier frequencies are staggered over multiple symbols.

12. The wireless cellular base station of claim 8 , further comprising:

wherein to apply the calculated channel reciprocity calibration coefficients within receive and/or transmit path circuitry, the one or more processing devices:

for each antenna of the M antennas, uses a corresponding one of the calculated channel reciprocity calibration coefficients for each subcarrier of a plurality of subcarriers at the antenna within the receive and/or transmit path circuitry.

13. The wireless cellular base station of claim 12 , further comprising:

wherein to use one of the calculated channel reciprocity calibration coefficients for each subcarrier of a plurality of subcarriers at the antenna within the transmit path circuitry, the one or more processing devices:

digitally multiplies the subcarrier by the corresponding reciprocity calibration coefficient prior to being converted to an analog signal and upconverted into an output radio frequency signal transmitted from the antenna.

14. The wireless cellular base station of claim 12 , further comprising:

wherein to use one of the calculated channel reciprocity calibration coefficients for each subcarrier of a plurality of subcarriers at the antenna within the receive path circuitry, the one or more processing devices:

digitally multiplies the subcarrier by the corresponding reciprocity calibration coefficient after being downconverted from a radio frequency signal received at the antenna and converted to digital samples.

15. The wireless cellular base station of claim 8 , each of the M antennas has an associated receive/transmit path circuitry.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that are capable of causing or configuring a computing system to perform operations comprising:

for each antenna of M antennas of a wireless cellular base station:

transmitting, by the antenna, a calibration pilot symbol over the air; and

receiving, by the other M−1 antennas, the calibration pilot symbol over the air;

selecting one of the M antennas as a reference antenna;

for each antenna of the M antennas:

calculating channel reciprocity calibration coefficients of the antenna with respect to the reference antenna based on the received calibration pilot symbols;

applying the calculated channel reciprocity calibration coefficients within receive and/or transmit path circuitry of the base station; and

wherein said applying the calculated channel reciprocity calibration coefficients within receive and/or transmit path circuitry of the base station comprises:

for each antenna of the M antennas, averaging the calculated channel reciprocity calibration coefficients associated with the antenna over all subcarriers of a plurality of subcarriers to obtain a single coefficient for the antenna and applying the single coefficient within the receive and/or transmit path circuitry.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , further comprising:

wherein said transmitting the calibration pilot symbols over the air is performed in a manner selected from one or more of the following list of manners:

a time-multiplexed manner;

a frequency-multiplexed manner; and

a code-multiplexed manner.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , further comprising:

wherein said transmitting the calibration pilot symbols over the air in a frequency-multiplexed manner comprises using a different frequency subcarrier per antenna of the M antennas.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 , further comprising:

wherein the different subcarrier frequencies are staggered over multiple symbols.

20. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

wherein said applying the calculated channel reciprocity calibration coefficients within receive and/or transmit path circuitry of the base station comprises:

for each antenna of the M antennas, using a corresponding one of the calculated channel reciprocity calibration coefficients for each subcarrier of a plurality of subcarriers at the antenna within the receive and/or transmit path circuitry.