DEVICE FOR FRONTHAUL COMMUNICATION BETWEEN A BASEBAND UNIT AND A REMOTE UNIT OF A RADIO ACCESS NETWORK

1 . A system for providing wireless service to user equipment (UE), the system comprising:

an intermediate device configured to communicate with a baseband unit (BBU) of a radio access network (RAN); and

a plurality of remote units (RUs) communicatively coupled to the intermediate device;

wherein the intermediate device is configured to acquire synchronization for the RAN and to distribute synchronization information to the plurality of RUs; and

wherein at least two of the RUs are configured to wirelessly transmit user data to a same UE, wherein said at least two of the RUs are configured to perform at least some physical layer processing for wirelessly transmitting the user data to the same UE.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the intermediate device is further configured to distribute synchronization information to the BBU.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein said at least two of the RUs are configured to wirelessly transmit the user data to the same UE using Coordinated Multiple Point (COMP) transmission.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the intermediate device is further configured to:

receive, at the intermediate device, fronthaul data originating from the BBU, wherein the fronthaul data is formatted according to a first fronthaul protocol when received at the intermediate device;

format at least some of the fronthaul data received at the intermediate device so as to be formatted according to a second fronthaul protocol thereby producing reformatted fronthaul data; and

forward the reformatted fronthaul data towards at least one of the plurality of RUs.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the intermediate device is further configured to:

receive, at the intermediate device, fronthaul data originating from at least one of the plurality of RUs, wherein the fronthaul data is formatted according to a first fronthaul protocol when received at the intermediate device;

format at least some of the fronthaul data received at the intermediate device so as to be formatted according to a second fronthaul protocol thereby producing reformatted fronthaul data; and

forward the reformatted fronthaul data towards the BBU.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the BBU and the plurality of RUs are used in at least one of a 4G network and a 5G network.

7 . A method of providing wireless service to user equipment (UE) using a system comprising an intermediate device configured to communicate with a baseband unit (BBU) of a radio access network (RAN) and a plurality of remote units (RUs) communicatively coupled to the intermediate device, the method comprising:

acquiring, by the intermediate device, synchronization for the RAN;

distributing, by the intermediate device, synchronization information to the plurality of RUs; and

wirelessly transmitting user data to a same UE using at least two of the RUs, wherein said at least two of the RUs are configured to perform at least some physical layer processing for wirelessly transmitting the user data to the same UE.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the method further comprises:

distributing, by the intermediate device, synchronization information to the BBU.

9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein wirelessly transmitting the user data to the same UE using the at least two of the RUs comprises wirelessly transmitting the user data to the same UE using the at least two of the RUs using Coordinated Multiple Point (COMP) transmission.

10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, at the intermediate device, fronthaul data originating from the BBU, wherein the fronthaul data is formatted according to a first fronthaul protocol when received at the intermediate device;

formatting at least some of the fronthaul data received at the intermediate device so as to be formatted according to a second fronthaul protocol thereby producing reformatted fronthaul data; and

forwarding the reformatted fronthaul data towards at least one of the plurality of RUs.

11 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, at the intermediate device, fronthaul data originating from at least one of the plurality of RUs, wherein the fronthaul data is formatted according to a first fronthaul protocol when received at the intermediate device;

formatting at least some of the fronthaul data received at the intermediate device so as to be formatted according to a second fronthaul protocol thereby producing reformatted fronthaul data; and

forwarding the reformatted fronthaul data towards the BBU.

12 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the BBU and the plurality of RUs are used in at least one of a 4G network and a 5G network.