Patent ID: 7792559
Filing Date: 2010-09-07
Classification: H01Q,H04B,H04W

Abstract:
1. An antenna system for use in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication system, the antenna system comprising: a plurality of antennas; a switch matrix in communication with the plurality of antennas and adapted to couple selected antennas to a plurality of switch outputs; a radio module in communication with a first switch output and adapted to receive OFDM radio frequency signals; a measurement module in communication with the radio module, and adapted to measure the bin magnitudes of the OFDM radio frequency signals received by the radio module; and a control module adapted to control selection of which of the plurality of antennas is coupled to the first switch output, wherein during a selection phase the control module selectively couples a desired antenna to the first switch output and receives the measured bin magnitudes of the OFDM radio frequency signal received by the selected antenna, the control module continues selecting and receiving measurements from a desired number of the plurality of antennas, then the control module combines the measurements from combinations of the antennas and determines a desired combination of antennas for use during an operational phase, wherein the desired combination of antennas has preferred performance characteristics over individual antennas that make up the desired combination, and wherein the control module during the selection phase selects antennas one at a time and ranks the antennas based upon the measured characteristics.