Remotely reconfigurable distributed antenna system and methods
The present disclosure is a novel utility of a software defined radio (SDR) based Distributed Antenna System (DAS) that is field reconfigurable and support multi-modulation schemes (modulation-independent), multi-carriers, multi-frequency bands and multi-channels. The present disclosure enables a high degree of flexibility to manage, control, enhance, facilitate the usage and performance of a distributed wireless network such as flexible simulcast, automatic traffic load-balancing, network and radio resource optimization, network calibration, autonomous/assisted commissioning, carrier pooling, automatic frequency selection, frequency carrier placement, traffic monitoring, traffic tagging, pilot beacon, etc.
1. A wireless system comprising:
one or more central nodes that receive a number of a plurality of radio resources from an operator hub that enables wireless communications and that provides the plurality of radio resources to a radio access network using the Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) protocol; and
a plurality of wireless access points that is coupled to the one or more central nodes and distributes one or more wireless signals to one or more wireless subscribers, the plurality of wireless access points including at least a first access point and a second access point,
wherein one or more central nodes assigns a first subset of the number of the plurality of radio resources to the first access point and a second subset of the number of the plurality of radio resources to the second access point, the first subset including more radio resources than the second subset, and
wherein, in response to a change in need of a number of wireless subscribers coupled to the second access point and which of the second subset is loaded beyond a threshold, the one or more central nodes assign additional radio resources of the plurality of radio resources to the second access point.
2. The wireless system of claim 1 , wherein the change in need is determined based on a change in capacity needed by the number of wireless subscribers coupled to the second access point or a change in throughput needed by the number of wireless subscribers coupled to the second access point.
3. The wireless system of claim 1 , wherein the additional resources are included in the first subset prior to being assigned to the second access point, and wherein the one or more central nodes assign the additional radio resources of the plurality of radio resources to the second access point comprises removing the additional resources from the first subset assigned to the first access point.
4. The wireless system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more central nodes analyze one or more transmission parameters associated with the second access point to determine the change in need.
5. The wireless system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more central nodes determines the change in need by determining that at least one transmission parameter associated with the second access point is greater than a threshold.
6. The wireless system of claim 1 , wherein the first access point belongs to a first sector and the second access point belongs to a second sector.
7. The wireless system of claim 1 , wherein the first access point belongs to a first building and the second access point belongs to a second building.
8. The wireless system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of wireless access points enables communication between an IP device and the one or more central nodes.
9. The wireless system of claim 1 , wherein at least two of the plurality of wireless access points are connected in a daisy chain manner to relay communications between at least a subset of the plurality of wireless access points.
10. The wireless system of claim 1 , wherein a transmission power provided by at least one of the plurality of wireless access points is configurable via software.
11. The wireless system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more one or more central nodes are coupled to a plurality of operator networks via the operator hub.
12. A method comprising:
receiving a plurality of radio resources from an operator hub that operates using a Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) protocol;
assigning a first subset of the plurality of radio resources to a first access point included in a plurality of wireless access points and a second subset of the plurality of radio resources to a second access point included in the plurality of wireless access points, the first subset including more radio resources than the second subset; and
in response to a change in need of a number of wireless subscribers coupled to the second access point and which of the second subset is loaded beyond a threshold, assigning one or more additional radio resources of the plurality of radio resources to the second access point.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the change in need is determined based on a change in capacity needed by the number of wireless subscribers coupled to the second access point or a change in throughput needed by the number of wireless subscribers coupled to the second access point.
14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the one or more additional resources are included in the first subset prior to being assigned to the second access point, and wherein assigning the one or more additional radio resources comprises removing the one or more additional resources from the first subset assigned to the first access point.
15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising analyzing one or more transmission parameters associated with the second access point to determine the change in need.
16. The method of claim 12 , where the first access point belongs to a first sector and the second access point belongs to a second sector.
17. The method of claim 12 , where the first access point belongs to a first building and the second access point belongs to a second building.
18. The method of claim 12 , wherein at least one of the plurality of wireless access points enables communication between an IP device and one or more central nodes.
19. The method of claim 12 , wherein at least two of the plurality of wireless access points are connected in a daisy chain manner to relay communications between at least a subset of the plurality of wireless access points.
20. One or more non-transitory computer readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:
receiving a plurality of radio resources from an operator hub that operates using a Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) protocol;
assigning a first subset of the plurality of radio resources to a first access point included in a plurality of wireless access points and a second subset of the plurality of radio resources to a second access point included in the plurality of wireless access points, the first subset including more radio resources than the second subset; and
in response to a change in need by a number of wireless subscribers coupled to the second access point and which of the second subset is loaded beyond a threshold, assigning one or more additional radio resources of the plurality of radio resources to the second access point.