Methods and apparatus for overlapping MIMO antenna physical sectors

1. A multiple input multiple output (MIMO) system for communicating with a provided wireless device, the MIMO system comprising:

at least four directional antennas; and

a quantity of radios comprising at least three radios, each radio transmits and receives signals using a same channel; wherein:

each antenna is physically oriented in a fixed position such that a physical sector of each antenna partially overlaps a physical sector of a quantity of other antennas equal to at least the quantity of radios minus one thereby forming respective areas of overlap;

a center of each area of overlap is oriented in a unique direction with respect to the MIMO system;

each radio selectively couples to one respective antenna, each antenna coupled to a radio transmits and receives using a same channel as the radio to which the antenna is coupled;

the physical sectors of the antennas coupled to the radios overlap;

the quantity of radios communicate with the wireless device using the respective antennas coupled to each radio; and

the antennas coupled to the radios operate as a MIMO antenna.

2. The MIMO system of claim 1 wherein the at least four antennas are collocated such that a physical sector of each antenna extends outwardly from the MIMO system.

3. The MIMO system of claim 1 wherein each antenna is oriented such that the physical sector of each antenna partially overlaps the physical sector of a quantity of other antennas equal to the quantity of radios plus one.

4. A wireless cell for communicating with a provided wireless device, the wireless cell comprising:

a quantity of radios, each radio transmits and receives signals using a same channel, the

quantity of radios comprises at least two radios;

a quantity of directional antennas, the quantity of directional antennas is greater than the quantity of radios, each directional antenna physically positioned in a fixed position;

a switch; and

a processor, the processor coupled to the quantity of radios; wherein:

in accordance with a criteria, the processor identifies from the quantity of directional antennas a quantity of selected antennas;

the switch couples each selected antenna to one radio of the quantity of radios, no selected antenna is coupled to more than one radio of the quantity of radios;

each selected antenna is physically positioned such that a physical sector of each selected antenna is oriented to substantially overlap the physical sector of a quantity of other antennas equal to at least the quantity of radios minus one;

each selected antenna transmits and receives signals using the same channel as the radio to which the selected antenna is coupled; and

the selected antennas operate as a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna so that the quantity of radios communicate with the wireless device.

5. The wireless cell of claim 4 wherein the physical sector of each selected antenna overlaps at least 80 percent of an area of the physical sector of all other selected antennas.

6. The wireless cell of claim 4 wherein an angle of coverage of each directional antenna of the quantity of directional antennas at most 180 degrees.

7. The wireless cell of claim 4 wherein the criteria comprises at least one of data throughput, data errors, retransmission requests, interference, transmission rates, signal strength, signal quality, and signal-to-noise ratio.

8. The wireless cell of claim 4 wherein the processor:

further detects a change in the criteria; and

repeats identifying the quantity of selected antennas.

9. The wireless cell of claim 4 wherein the processor identifies the quantity of selected antennas by comparing a communication performance of two or more combinations of antennas and radios.

10. The method of claim 4 wherein the processor assigns each radio of the quantity of radios same channel responsive to a communication performance of the wireless cell.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein a metric of the communication performance comprises at least one of data throughput, signal-to-noise ratio, signal error, data errors, retransmission requests, interference, transmission rates, and signal strength.

12. A method performed by a wireless cell for multiple input multiple output (MIMO) communication with a wireless device, the wireless cell comprising a quantity of radios and a quantity of directional antennas, the method comprising:

in accordance with a criteria, identifying from the quantity of directional antennas a quantity of selected antennas;

coupling each selected antenna to one radio of the quantity of radios, no selected antenna is coupled to more than one radio of the quantity of radios; and

operating the selected antennas as a MIMO antenna so that the quantity of radios communicate with the wireless device; wherein:

the quantity of radios comprises at least two radios;

each radio of the quantity of radios transmits and receives signals using a same channel;

the quantity of directional antennas is greater than the quantity of radios;

each directional antenna of the quantity of directional antennas is physically positioned in a fixed position;

each selected antenna transmits and receives signals using the same channel as the radio to which the selected antenna is coupled;

each selected antenna is physically positioned such that a physical sector of each selected antenna is oriented to substantially overlap the physical sector of a quantity of other antennas equal to at least the quantity of radios minus one.

13. The wireless cell of claim 12 wherein the criteria comprises at least one of data throughput, data errors, retransmission requests, interference, transmission rates, signal strength, signal quality, and signal-to-noise ratio.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein identifying comprises comparing a respective operating performance of two or more combinations of antennas and radios.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein identifying comprises

coupling one or more directional antennas of the quantity of directional antennas to each radio;

operating the coupled antennas as a MIMO antenna; and

measuring a communication performance while the quantity of radios communicate with the wireless device via the coupled antennas.

16. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

detecting a change in the criteria; and

repeating identifying the quantity of selected antennas.

17. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

detecting a change in a communication performance; and

repeating identifying the quantity of selected antennas.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein detecting comprises detecting a decrease in the communication performance.

19. The method of claim 12 further comprising assigning the same channel to each radio of the quantity of radios responsive to a communication performance of the wireless cell.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein a metric of the communication performance comprises at least one of data throughput, signal-to-noise ratio, signal error, data errors, retransmission requests, interference, transmission rates, and signal strength.