Patent ID: 7092673
Filing Date: 2006-08-15
Classification: H04W

Abstract:
1. A method of estimating the Angle of Arrival (AoA) of a signal from a user equipment received at a base station of a wireless telecommunications network in which the base station has a multi-beam antenna, comprising the steps of: deriving the amplitude of the signal for each beam of the antenna; selecting the two adjacent beams which have the highest amplitude; calculating a ratio of functions of the amplitudes of the two selected beams; determining the estimated AoA of the signal from the calculated ratio by inputting the calculated ratio for the two selected beams into a ratio data store, which data store stores a set of ratios for each pair of adjacent beams and stores an estimated AoA corresponding to each such ratio, to generate the estimated AoA associated with the calculated ratio for the two selected beams and wherein the ratios stored in the data store account for the spreading effect of signals received by the base station from a user equipment in the cell due to reflections from scatterers.