Multi-egress backhaul

1. A method for providing backhaul capacity in an ad-hoc mesh network, comprising:

attaching, at a first multi-radio access technology (multi-RAT) base station that is a node of an ad-hoc mesh network, to a macro cell;

measuring, at the first multi-RAT base station, at least one of a backhaul signal quality with the macro cell and a throughput to the macro cell;

reporting, from the first multi-RAT base station to a coordinating node, information comprising at least two of: a signal quality parameter, a physical position of the first multi-RAT base station, a cell identifier of the macro cell, and the measured throughput;

receiving, at the first multi-RAT base station, an instruction to advertise a backhaul connection from the first-RAT base station to the macro cell to other nodes in the ad-hoc mesh network, thereby providing an increase in overall backhaul capacity of the ad-hoc mesh network;

and

subsequently adjusting backhaul capacity by adding or removing additional backhaul connections to or from the ad-hoc mesh network.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the signal quality parameter is one of a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) and a Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), and wherein the cell identifier is a Long Term Evolution (LTE) Enhanced Cell Global Identifier (eCGI) or physical cell identifier (PCI).

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the physical position is a set of coordinates derived using a Global Positioning System (GPS).

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ad-hoc mesh network is a Wi-Fi mesh network.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first multi-RAT base station is a base station with Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and Long Term Evolution (LTE) access connectivity.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising attaching periodically to the macro cell, and reporting the information periodically, wherein the macro cell is a particular macro cell that is available at the time that attaching is performed.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining is performed at the first multi-RAT base station.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining is performed at the coordinating node.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first multi-RAT base station further comprises a Long Term Evolution (LTE) cellular modem coupled to the base station via serial interface.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the macro cell is not being used as backhaul by the ad-hoc mesh network.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining whether the macro cell is currently in use as a backhaul connection for the ad-hoc mesh network, and whether the macro cell information exceeds a minimum quality threshold; and

sending, to the first multi-RAT base station, an instruction to advertise the backhaul connection from the first multi-RAT base station to the macro cell to other nodes in the ad-hoc mesh network.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing a handover from the first multi-RAT base station to a second multi-RAT base station or to the macro cell.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first multi-RAT base station provides at least two of: a Wi-Fi access modality; a 2G/Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) access modality; a 3G/Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) access modality; and a Long Term Evolution (LTE) access modality.

14. A multi-RAT base station in an ad-hoc wireless network, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor and containing instructions which, when executed, are configured to cause the processor to perform steps comprising:

attaching, at a first multi-RAT base station that is a node of an ad-hoc mesh network, to a macro cell;

measuring, at the first multi-RAT base station, at least one of a backhaul signal quality with the macro cell and a throughput to the macro cell;

reporting, from the first multi-RAT base station to a coordinating node, information comprising at least two of: a signal quality parameter, a physical position of the first mobile base station, a cell identifier of the macro cell, and the measured throughput;

receiving, at the first multi-RAT base station, an instruction to advertise a backhaul connection from the first multi-RAT base station to the macro cell to other nodes in the ad-hoc mesh network; and

subsequently adjusting backhaul capacity by adding or removing additional backhaul connections to or from the ad-hoc mesh network.

15. The multi-RAT base station of claim 14 , the instructions further comprising:

determining whether the macro cell is currently in use as a backhaul connection for the ad-hoc mesh network, and whether the macro cell information exceeds a minimum quality threshold; and

sending, to the first multi-RAT base station, an instruction to advertise the backhaul connection from the first multi-RAT base station to the macro cell to other nodes in the ad-hoc mesh network.

16. The multi-RAT base station of claim 14 , the multi-RAT base station further configured to perform a handover from the first multi-RAT base station to a second multi-RAT base station or to the macro cell.

17. The multi-RAT base station of claim 14 , wherein the first multi-RAT base station provides at least two of: a Wi-Fi access modality; a 2G/Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) access modality; a 3G/Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) access modality; and a Long Term Evolution (LTE) access modality.

18. The multi-RAT base station of claim 14 , wherein the first multi-RAT base station provides at least three of: a Wi-Fi access modality; a 2G/Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) access modality; a 3G/Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) access modality; and a Long Term Evolution (LTE) access modality.