Coexistence of multiple radio technologies in a shared frequency band
Novel techniques are described for coexistence of multiple radio technologies in a shared frequency band. Techniques described herein enable multiple radiofrequency networks using different radio technologies to coexist on a same carrier frequency by exploiting various frequency- and/or time-domain sharing of scheduled resources. For example, data signals are received for transmission over different radio networks according to different radio technologies (having different respective sub-carrier definitions and timeslot definitions). A coexistence resource schedule is computed from the communication resource grids define an allocation of sub-carrier and/or timeslot resources among the radio technologies. Radio technologies can then be generated from the data signals in accordance with the coexistence resource schedule and the communication resource grids. The radio signals can then be transmitted over the radio networks, with the multiple radio technologies coexisting in orthogonal components of a communication channel.
1. A gateway system for coexistence of multiple radio technologies in a shared carrier, the gateway system comprising:
a receiver subsystem to receive a first data signal for communication via a first radio technology that defines a first communication resource grid having a first sub-carrier definition and a first timeslot definition, and to receive a second data signal for communication via a second radio technology that defines a second communication resource grid having a second sub-carrier definition and a second timeslot definition;
a coexistence scheduler to compute a coexistence resource grid from the first communication resource grid and the second communication resource grid to define a division of transmission resources into a plurality of sub-carriers of a carrier frequency according to a coexistence sub-carrier definition and into a plurality of timeslots according to a coexistence timeslot definition;
a first radio-technology-specific scheduler, coupled with the coexistence scheduler and having the first communication resource grid stored in communication therewith, to generate a first radio signal by scheduling the first data signal to consume a first subset of the sub-carriers and a first subset of the timeslots of the coexistence resource grid in accordance with the first radio technology; and
a second radio-technology-specific scheduler, coupled with the coexistence scheduler and having the second communication resource grid stored in communication therewith, to generate a second radio signal by scheduling at least a portion of the second data signal to consume a second subset of the sub-carriers and a second subset of the timeslots of a remaining portion of the coexistence resource grid subsequent to the scheduling the first data signal in accordance with the second radio technology.
2. The gateway system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a transmitter subsystem comprising a radiofrequency antenna to concurrently transmit the first radio signal and the second radio signal wirelessly over the carrier frequency.
3. The gateway system of claim 2 , wherein the transmitter subsystem is to transmit the first radio signal and the second radio signal as orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signals.
4. The gateway system of claim 1 , wherein the coexistence scheduler is to compute further by:
determining, prior to the scheduling the first data signal, a size of the first subset of the sub-carriers in accordance with a predetermined bandwidth allocation for the first data signal; and
computing the coexistence resource grid to have a same coexistence sub-carrier definition for each of the plurality of timeslots by assigning the first subset of the sub-carriers for each timeslot of the plurality of timeslots to the first data signal,
wherein the first radio-technology-specific scheduler is to schedule the first data signal in accordance with the assigning.
5. The gateway system of claim 1 , wherein the coexistence scheduler is to compute further by:
determining, prior to the scheduling the first data signal, a size of the first subset of the timeslots in accordance with a predetermined bandwidth allocation for the first data signal; and
computing the coexistence resource grid by assigning the all of the plurality of the sub-carriers to the first data signal only for each timeslot of the first subset of the timeslots,
wherein the first radio-technology-specific scheduler is to schedule the first data signal in accordance with the assigning.
6. The gateway system of claim 1 , wherein:
the coexistence scheduler is to compute further by determining, responsive to the first radio-technology-specific scheduler scheduling the first data signal, the remaining portion of the coexistence resource grid; and
the second radio-technology-specific scheduler is to schedule the at least the portion of the second data signal by opportunistically scheduling the at least the portion of the second data signal to consume the second subset of the sub-carriers and the second subset of the timeslots of the remaining portion responsive to the determining by the coexistence scheduler.
7. The gateway system of claim 1 , wherein the coexistence scheduler is to compute further by:
receiving, from the first radio-technology-specific scheduler, a first sub-carrier size of the first sub-carrier definition and a first timeslot size of the first timeslot definition;
receiving, from the second radio-technology-specific scheduler, a second sub-carrier size of the second sub-carrier definition and a second timeslot size of the second timeslot definition;
determining whether the second sub-carrier size differs from the first sub-carrier size and/or the second timeslot size differs from the first timeslot size; and
computing the coexistence resource grid to define the division of transmission resources into the plurality of sub-carriers and into the plurality of timeslots, such that:
in response to determining that the second sub-carrier size differs from the first sub-carrier size, each of the plurality of sub-carriers is computed to have a coexistence sub-carrier size that is a common multiple of the first sub-carrier size and the second sub-carrier size; and
in response to determining that the second timeslot size differs from the first timeslot size, each of the plurality of timeslots is computed to have a coexistence timeslot size that is a common multiple of the first timeslot size and the second timeslot size.
8. The gateway system of claim 1 , wherein:
the receiver subsystem is in communication with a first content source and a second content source;
the first data signal is received from the first content source and destined for receipt by a first plurality of wireless receiver devices via a first wireless network; and
the second data signal is received from the second content source and destined for receipt by a second plurality of wireless receiver devices via a second wireless network.
9. The gateway system of claim 8 , wherein:
the first wireless network is a digital broadcast television network configured according to Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) 3.0 standards; and
the second wireless network is a mobile wireless Internet network configured according to Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards.
10. A method for coexistence of multiple radio technologies in a shared carrier, the method comprising:
receiving a first data signal for communication via a first radio technology that defines a first communication resource grid having a first sub-carrier definition and a first timeslot definition;
receiving a second data signal for communication via a second radio technology that defines a second communication resource grid having a second sub-carrier definition and a second timeslot definition;
computing a coexistence resource grid from the first communication resource grid and the second communication resource grid to define a division of transmission resources into a plurality of sub-carriers of a carrier frequency according to a coexistence sub-carrier definition and into a plurality of timeslots according to a coexistence timeslot definition;
generating a first radio signal for transmission of the first data signal over the carrier frequency by scheduling the first data signal, according to the coexistence resource grid, to consume a first subset of the sub-carriers and a first subset of the timeslots; and
generating a second radio signal for transmission of the second data signal over the carrier frequency by scheduling at least a portion of the second data signal to consume a second subset of the sub-carriers and a second subset of the timeslots of a remaining portion of the coexistence resource grid subsequent to the scheduling the first data signal.
11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
transmitting the first radio signal and the second radio signal concurrently over the carrier frequency.
12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the computing further comprises:
determining, prior to the scheduling the first data signal, a size of the first subset of the sub-carriers in accordance with a predetermined bandwidth allocation for the first data signal; and
computing the coexistence resource grid to have a same coexistence sub-carrier definition for each of the plurality of timeslots by assigning the first subset of the sub-carriers for each timeslot of the plurality of timeslots to the first data signal,
wherein the scheduling the first data signal is in accordance with the assigning.
13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the computing further comprises:
determining, prior to the scheduling the first data signal, a size of the first subset of the timeslots in accordance with a predetermined bandwidth allocation for the first data signal; and
computing the coexistence resource grid by assigning the all of the plurality of the sub-carriers to the first data signal only for each timeslot of the first subset of the timeslots, wherein the scheduling the first data signal is in accordance with the assigning.
14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the generating the second data signal further comprises determining, responsive to the scheduling the first data signal, the remaining portion of the coexistence resource grid, and opportunistically scheduling the at least the portion of the second data signal to consume the second subset of the sub-carriers and the second subset of the timeslots of the remaining portion responsive to the determining.
15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the computing further comprises:
determining a first sub-carrier size from the first sub-carrier definition;
determining a second sub-carrier size from the second sub-carrier definition; and
computing the coexistence resource grid to define the division of transmission resources into the plurality of sub-carriers, such that each of the plurality of sub-carriers has a coexistence sub-carrier size that is a common multiple of the first sub-carrier size and the second sub-carrier size.
16. The method of claim 10 , wherein the computing further comprises:
determining a first timeslot size from the first timeslot definition;
determining a second timeslot size from the second timeslot definition; and
computing the coexistence resource grid to define the division of transmission resources into the plurality of timeslots, such that each of the plurality of timeslots has a coexistence timeslot size that is a common multiple of the first timeslot size and the second timeslot size.
17. The method of claim 10 , wherein:
the first data signal is received from a first content source, and the first radio signal is generated for transmission over a first wireless network configured according to the first radio technology; and
the second data signal is received from a second content source, and the second radio signal is generated for transmission over a second wireless network configured according to the second radio technology.
18. The method of claim 10 , wherein the radio signals are generated to be orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signals.
19. The method of claim 10 , wherein:
the first radio technology accords with Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) 3.0 standards; and
the second radio technology accords with Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards.
20. The method of claim 10 , wherein the receiving the first data signal and the receiving the second data signal are performed substantially concurrently by a single gateway node of a communications network.