Wireless system with configurable radio and antenna resources

1. A wireless base station or access point comprising:

a multiplicity of unitary radios, where each unitary radio includes a multiplicity of radio transceiver chains and each unitary radio is configured to transmit a data channel that is independent of data channels transmitted by other unitary radios; and

a multiplicity of independently configurable antennas, where at least one of the configurable antennas has two ports and is a travelling wave antenna, a leaky wave antenna or a metamaterial leaky wave antenna, and where the at least one configurable antenna is excited in substantially orthogonal modes concurrently by coupling two or more radio transceiver chains of a unitary radio to one or both of the ports, and where the excitation of the configurable antenna radiates two or more different beams that transmit data from the data channel at substantially the same frequency.

2. The wireless base station or access point of claim 1 , where the first port is coupled to two radio transceiver chains from a common unitary radio, and the second port is coupled to two radio transceiver chains from the common unitary radio.

3. A wireless base station or access point comprising:

a multiplicity of unitary radios, where each unitary radio is comprised of a multiplicity of radio transceiver chains and each unitary radio is configured to transmit a data channel that is independent of data channels transmitted by other unitary radios;

a multiplicity of antennas, where at least one of the antennas has two ports and is excited in substantially orthogonal modes concurrently by coupling two or more radio transceiver chains of a unitary radio to one or both of the ports, and where the excitation of the antenna radiates two or more different beams that transmit data from the data channel at substantially the same frequency; and

an interface matrix coupled to the multiplicity of unitary radios and the multiplicity of antennas, the interface matrix configured to at least selectively interconnect a first radio transceiver chain to a first port of the at least one antenna to generate a first beam and interconnect a second radio transceiver chain to the first port or a second port of the at least one antenna to generate a second beam different from the first beam concurrently.

4. The wireless base station or access point of claim 3 , wherein at least one of the antennas is coupled to different radio transceiver chains via a common port of the antenna so as to radiate different beams using substantially orthogonal polarizations.

5. The wireless base station or access point of claim 3 , wherein at least one of the antennas is coupled to different radio transceiver chains via different ports of the antenna so as to radiate different beams in substantially non-overlapping spatial directions.

6. The wireless base station or access point of claim 3 , wherein at least one of the antennas is excited so as to concurrently radiate multiple beams by coupling two different radio transceiver chains from a common unitary radio to one port of the antenna.

7. The wireless base station or access point of claim 3 , wherein at least one of the antennas is excited so as to concurrently radiate multiple beams by coupling one radio transceiver chain to each of the two ports of the antenna.

8. The wireless base station or access point of claim 3 , wherein at least one of the antennas is excited so as to concurrently radiate multiple beams by coupling two different radio transceiver chains from a common unitary radio to two different ports of the antenna.

9. The wireless base station or access point of claim 3 , wherein at least one of the antennas is excited so as to concurrently radiate multiple beams by coupling two different radio transceiver chains from a common unitary radio to a common port of the antenna and coupling two different radio transceiver chains from the common radio to a different common port of the same antenna.

10. The wireless base station or access point of claim 3 , wherein at least one of the antennas is a configurable antenna.

11. The wireless base station or access point of claim 3 , wherein at least one of the antennas is a travelling wave antenna, leaky-wave antenna or a metamaterial leaky-wave antenna.

12. The wireless base station or access point of claim 3 , wherein at least one of the antennas consists of a multiplicity of planar antenna elements.

13. The wireless base station or access point of claim 3 , wherein at least two of the multiple unitary radios provide different radio services concurrently to similar spatial sectors.

14. The wireless base station or access point of claim 3 , wherein at least two of the multiple unitary radios provide different radio services concurrently to different spatial sectors.

15. The wireless base station or access point of claim 3 , wherein at least two of the multiple unitary radios provide radio frequency communication signals using different radio frequency communication technologies.

16. The wireless base station or access point of claim 3 , further comprising:

a processor bank including one or more processors, the one or more processors configuring the interface matrix to selectively interconnect radio transceiver chains to the multiple antennas.

17. The wireless base station or access point of claim 16 , further comprising:

a communication interface coupled to the processor bank to receive information from a network configuring the interface matrix to selectively interconnect radio transceiver chains to the multiple antennas.

18. The wireless base station or access point of claim 3 , further comprising:

a processor bank including one or more processors, the one or more processors configuring the configurable antennas.

19. The wireless base station or access point of claim 3 , further comprising:

a communication interface coupled to the processor bank to receive information from a network configuring the antennas.

20. The wireless base station or access point of claim 3 , wherein more than one unitary radio is interfaced with a single processor.

21. The wireless base station or access point of claim 3 , wherein more than one unitary radio is interfaced with a single processor.

22. The wireless base station or access point of claim 3 , wherein at least two of the multiple unitary radios provide different radio services concurrently to similar spatial sectors.

23. The wireless base station or access point of claim 3 , wherein at least two of the multiple unitary radios provide different radio services concurrently to non-overlapping spatial sectors.

24. The wireless base station or access point of claim 3 , wherein different radio services are provided concurrently to similar spatial sectors.

25. The wireless base station or access point of claim 3 , wherein different radio services are provided concurrently to non-overlapping spatial sectors.

26. The wireless base station or access point of claim 3 , wherein at least one of the unitary radios is enclosed in a physical unit that is remotely located from at least one of the antennas.

27. The wireless base station or access point of claim 3 , wherein at least two antennas are fabricated on a common printed circuit board.

28. The wireless base station or access point of claim 3 , wherein at least one of the antennas and a part of the interface matrix are fabricated on a common printed circuited board.

29. The wireless base station or access point of claim 3 , wherein at least two of the multiple unitary radios transmit in different frequency bands.

30. A method of configuring a wireless base station or access point comprising a multiplicity of unitary radios and antennas, where each unitary radio is comprised of a multiplicity of radio transceiver chains and each unitary radio is configured to transmit a data channel that is independent of data channels transmitted by other unitary radios and where at least one of the antennas has at least two ports, the method comprising:

exciting at least one of the antennas in substantially orthogonal modes concurrently by coupling two or more radio transceiver chains of a unitary radio to one or both of the ports, where the excitation of the antenna radiates two or more different beams that transmit data from the data channel at substantially the same frequency;

selectively interconnecting at least one radio transceiver chain to the antenna ports using an interface matrix; and

dynamically configuring the interface matrix or the antennas to radiate radio frequency signals into one or more spatial sectors.

31. The method of claim 30 , further comprising:

assigning at least two of the unitary radios to one spatial sector; and

configuring the at least two unitary radios to provide different radio services to the one spatial sector.

32. The method of claim 31 further comprising:

obtaining configuration data specifying one or more spatial sectors to be provisioned by the wireless base station or access point, a number of unitary radios, a data channel of a particular unitary radio and specific antenna ports assignable to the particular unitary radio; and

generating, by a processor, one or more control signals for the interface matrix, the control signals causing the interface matrix to selectively interconnect at least one radio transceiver chain of the particular unitary radio to the specific antenna ports to allow concurrent differentiated radio services to the one or more spatial sectors.

33. The method of claim 32 , further comprising:

receiving, through a communication interface, a policy specifying performance and service levels for at least one user; and

automatically and without further input from the user, specifying the configuration data to establish a wireless connection from the wireless access point or base station to the at least one user in accordance with the policy.

34. A wireless base station or access point comprising:

means for assigning multiple unitary radios of the wireless base station to multiple antennas of the wireless base station, where each unitary radio is comprised of a multiplicity of radio transceiver chains and each unitary radio is configured to transmit a data channel that is independent of data channels transmitted by other unitary radios and where at least one of the antennas has at least two ports and where at least one of the antennas is excited in substantially orthogonal modes concurrently by coupling two or more radio transceiver chains of a unitary radio to one or both of the ports, and where the excitation of the configurable antenna radiates two or more different beams that transmit data from the data channel at substantially the same frequency;

means for selectively interconnecting the multiple unitary radios to one or more of the multiple antennas; and

means for dynamically configuring the interface matrix or the antennas to radiate radio frequency signals into one or more spatial sectors.

35. The wireless base station or access point of claim 34 , further comprising:

means for providing different services to a common spatial sector or multiple spatial sectors through one or more of the multiple antennas.

36. The wireless base station or access point of claim 34 , further comprising:

means for using different radio frequency communication technologies to provide services to a common spatial sector or multiple spatial sectors through one or more of the multiple antennas.

37. A wireless base station or access point comprising:

at least one Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) unitary radio with a multiplicity of radio transceiver chains;

at least one multi-port antenna with at least two ports configured to generate a first beam in response to a first signal from a first radio transceiver chain and to generate at least a second beam in response to at least a second signal from the multiplicity of radio transceiver chains, where the at least second signal is generated by a different radio transceiver chain; and

an interface matrix coupled to the at least one MIMO unitary radio and the at least one multi-port antenna, the interface matrix configured to interconnect the first and the at least second signals from the at least one MIMO unitary radio to one or more ports of the at least one multi-port antenna, where the at least one multi-port antenna is excited in substantially orthogonal modes concurrently by coupling two or more radio transceiver chains of the at least one MIMO unitary radio to one or more of the multi-port antenna ports, and where the excitation of the at least one multi-port antenna radiates two or more different beams that transmit data from the data channel at substantially the same frequency.