TDM-based fixed wireless loop system

A time-division-multiplexed fixed wireless loop system and methods therefor are disclosed. The system comprises a plurality of cells each having a base station and a plurality of terminals. The base station includes a steerable and adjustable multibeam antenna for communicating with each of the terminals, which have fixed antennas. A cell controller associated with each base station allocates communication time slots so as to minimize mutual interference between base station/terminal links sharing the same time slot. Slot assignment is based on regional, periodically updated interference measurements that are stored in data bases.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to wireless loop systems, and more 
particularly to fixed wireless loop systems based on time division 
multiplexing schemes. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Fixed wireless loop (FWL) communications systems support distribution of 
data and voice transmission. Such systems are usually segmented into 
"cells." A base-station antenna located within each cell transmits signals 
to, and receives signals from, a plurality of terminals or peripheral 
stations also located within the cell. The cell need not be contiguous; 
the base station of one cell may service a select region or regions within 
the nominal boundaries of a nearby cell as geography or other factors 
dictate. The large number of transmitting sources present in FWL systems 
create a potential for a significant amount of interference with the 
communication between any particular base station antenna and terminal. 
Such interference can be caused by other transmitters within the cell, or 
in other cells. 
FWL systems typically utilize methods of frequency division multiplexing 
(FDM), time division multiplexing (TDM) or code division multiplexing 
access (CDMA)) to maximize system capacity and mitigate interference. 
Presently, it is widely believed that CDMA-based FWL systems are superior 
to TDM and FDM systems in terms of achieveable capacity. The main reason 
for this belief is that TDM and FDM are limited to high frequency reuse 
factors, typically about seven, while the frequency reuse factor for CDMA 
can be set to one. Sectorized antennas further increase the perceived 
advantage of CDMA, because it is typically considered impractical to lower 
the reuse factor of TDM-based systems even when sectorized base station 
antennas are available. 
CDMA-based systems possess a limitation, however, that is not shared by 
TDM-based systems. In particular, in CDMA-based systems, the base station 
antenna continuously illuminates all the terminals within a cell or 
sector. In TDM-based systems, the base station antenna for a particular 
cell illuminates only those terminals that are active during a particular 
time slot. The potential therefore exists for TDM-based systems to collect 
less interference from other emitters and to generate less interference to 
other receivers. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
A system and method for a TDM-based fixed wireless loop system are 
disclosed. The present system consists of a plurality of cells, each 
containing a base station and a plurality of terminals. Each base station 
generates several antenna beams for receiving transmissions from terminals 
within the same cell ("in-cell terminals") and other beams for 
transmitting to the in-cell terminals. Each receive beam and each transmit 
beam communicates with one terminal for an allocated period of time known 
as a time slot. 
Associated with each base station is a cell controller that regulates 
access to the air, and beam and time slot allocation. In one of many novel 
aspects of the present system, time slots are allocated based on the 
prevailing system interference. In particular, for approval of receive or 
"uplink" slots, i.e., slots used for terminal transmissions to the base 
station, the interference level at the base station receiver due to other 
in-cell and out-of-cell transmitting terminals must be low enough to allow 
satisfactory reception. In addition, transmission on the selected slot 
must not render other links unusable. As to transmit slots, i.e., slots 
used for base station transmissions to a terminal, the interference level 
at the terminal receiver due to other in-cell transmit beams and 
out-of-cell transmit beams on the same slot must be low enough to allow 
satisfactory reception. Furthermore, the transmit beam on that slot must 
not render other links unusable. 
To allocate time slots based on out-of-cell interferers requires 
communication between the cell controllers of neighboring cells. In 
another novel aspect of the present invention, each cell controller shares 
information concerning the activation and deactivation of base 
station--terminal links within its cell with other cell controllers in the 
system. To estimate the affect of such out-of-cell changes, each cell 
controller accesses a novel data base containing information about the 
mutual interference levels between every potential link in the cell 
controller's cell and every potential link in neighboring cells. In 
preferred embodiments, each cell controller has its own data base. The 
data base is periodically updated to reflect changing system conditions. 
A terminal's request for access to the air is denied unless a suitable 
transmit and a suitable receive slot are found. As such, the present 
invention protects active links from interruptions and call drops by 
blocking service requests if necessary. Such protection is in contrast to 
CDMA-based methods in which blocking may take the from of incremental 
degradation in the quality of ongoing calls, sometimes leading to call 
drops. 
If a terminal's service request is accepted, the cell controller directs 
its beam formers to synthesize an antenna pattern that results in an 
optimized signal to interference ratio at the antenna output.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
For clarity of explanation, the illustrative embodiments of the present 
invention are presented as comprising individual functional blocks. The 
functions these blocks represent may be provided through the use of either 
shared or dedicated hardware, including, but not limited to, hardware 
capable of executing software. 
A time-division-multiplexed (TDM)-based fixed wireless loop (FWL) system 
according to the present invention is capable of supporting conventional 
telephony, data, internet access, multimedia services and the like. The 
system can be conceptualized as including a plurality of hexagonal cells 
5, three of which cells are shown in FIG. 1 and identified as 5a, 5b and 
5c. For clarity, the reference identifier for each feature within a 
particular cell will have an alphabetic character appended thereto to 
identify the feature as belonging to the particular cell, e.g., "a," "b," 
or "c." The alphabetic character will be dropped for generic reference to 
cells or features. 
The aforementioned hexagonal cell shape is the classical shape for design 
and analysis of wireless loop systems. It should be understood, however, 
that the cells 5 are not limited to having the idealized hexagonal shape. 
A variety of factors, not the least of which is geography, will influence 
the desired shape of such cells for any particular implementation. 
Within each cell 5 is a centrally-located base station 10 and a plurality 
of terminals or peripheral stations 15.sub.1-n. The base station 10 and 
each terminal 15.sub.i includes an antenna and associated receiving and 
transmitting electronics. While in FIG. 1, only three terminals 
15a.sub.1-3, 15b.sub.1-3 and 15c.sub.1-3 are shown within each of the 
respective cells 5a, 5b and 5c, it should be understood that many more of 
such terminals are typically present in any given cell 5. The identifier 
15.sub.i will be used for generic reference to a single terminal. 
As those skilled in the art will recognized, the aforedescribed 
configuration of the present FWL system is very similar to mobile cellular 
systems. Instead of mobile units, the present FWL system has a plurality 
of fixed terminals 15.sub.1-n. Such fixed terminals have antennas 
typically installed on roof-tops and the like. 
In preferred embodiments, each terminal antenna is directional. It will be 
appreciated, however, that due to severe size and cost constraints, such 
antennas may be only moderately directional. Each terminal antenna is 
directed to face the antenna of its respective base station 10. Additional 
description of a preferred embodiment of a terminal antenna is provided 
later in this specification. 
In conjunction with suitable electronics and methods described in more 
detail later in this specification, the antenna of each base station 10 
generates several beams that "hop" or move throughout the cell 5, 
receiving and sending transmissions. As shown in FIG. 2 for an exemplary 
cell 5d, the generated beams include "receive" or "uplink" beams 20d that 
receive transmission on a first frequency, .function..sub.1, from the 
terminals 15d.sub.1-n. The generated beams further include an equal number 
of "transmit" or "downlink" beams 21d for transmitting information, on a 
second frequency, .function..sub.2, to the terminals 15.sub.1-n. While 
such duplex operation is preferably implemented using FDM, e.g., two 
different frequencies, .function..sub.1 and .function..sub.2 as described 
above, other methods for implementing duplex operation, among them time 
division duplexing (TDD), can be used. The term "link" will be used herein 
to refer, generally, to both the uplink and downlink communications 
between a base station 10 and terminal 15i. 
In the exemplary illustration of FIG. 2, three uplink beams 20d.sub.1-3 and 
three downlink beams 21.sub.1-3 communicating with five terminals 
15d.sub.6-10 are shown. In other embodiments, more or less simultaneously 
generated beams can be implemented. It will be appreciated that increasing 
the number of simultaneously generated beams potentially increases system 
capacity. Such an increase in beams, however, also increases interference 
levels. Thus, the number of beams per cell is limited by interference 
levels, and will vary due to factors, such as, for example, geography, 
concentration of terminals, building height and the like. It is expected 
that the number of simultaneously generated beams per cell will typically 
be in the range of about 2 to about 7. 
As previously noted, the present invention utilizes TDM. Thus, FIG. 2 shows 
the operation of the present TDM-based FWL system at one point in time. As 
illustrated in FIG. 3, the time axis is divided into periodic frames 30, 
each having a plurality of time slots 35.sub.1-T. The time available in 
each time slot 35.sub.i is typically unequally apportioned to deliver a 
preamble 31, to provide user identification and syncronization information 
32, to provide the "payload" 33, and to provide guard time 34. The frames 
30 have a typical duration on the order of milliseconds, while each time 
slot is significantly shorter. It will be appreciated that the time 
allotted per frame 30 and per time slot 35.sub.i can vary depending on the 
communication requirements of a particular application and implementation 
preferences. 
An uplink beam 20 receives information from a single terminal 15.sub.i, and 
a downlink beam 21 transmits information to a single terminal 15.sub.i for 
the duration of a time slot 35.sub.i. The downlink to and uplink from a 
particular terminal, need not, however, be contemporaneous. For example, 
FIG. 2 shows downlink beam 21d.sub.1 and uplink beam 20d.sub.1 
communicating with terminal 15d.sub.6 during the same time slot. On the 
other hand, the downlink and uplink between the base station 10d and each 
of the terminals 15d.sub.7, 15d.sub.8, 15d.sub.9 and 15d.sub.10 are not 
contemporaneous. 
Typically, a terminal 15 is assigned one slot 35i per time frame 30 for 
receiving/transmitting. More than one slot per frame, however, either on 
the same beam or other beams, can be assigned to a single terminal 15i 
depending upon communication requirements. For example, if there is a 
large amount of data transmission to or from a particular terminal 
15.sub.i, that terminal can be assigned several time slots per frame. 
The total number of "active" terminals that can be supported per cell is 
upper bounded by b x T, where b is the number of beams per cell and T is 
the number of time slots per frame. The actual number of active terminals 
15 is usually less than b x T, even when demand exists, due to 
interference considerations. In particular, some time slots, depending on 
the location of the terminals 15 requesting service at that time, might be 
unusable due to severe interference. Moreover, such slots might need to 
remain unused in order to avoid interfering with certain active terminals. 
In preferred embodiments, the frame and time slot boundaries in all the 
beams 20 and 21 and all the cells 5 are synchronized, or nearly 
synchronized. Synchronization simplifies the control of mutual 
interference. Such synchronization presents a problem, however, since 
propagation time across the radius of a cell 5 can be larger than the 
guard time 34 between successive slots. In order to maintain the guard 
time, the "start of transmit" time of each terminal 15.sub.1-n must be 
shifted forward by an amount proportional to the range between the 
terminal 15 and the base station 10. In this way, transmissions from 
terminals 15 belonging to the same cell and time slot can interfere with 
each other only during that particular time slot. 
This is not the case with out-of-cell interferers. Significant interference 
from other cells 5 can arrive during the full duration of the next time 
slot and will typically affect both the current and the succeeding time 
slot. One method for addressing out-of-cell interference is simply to 
assume that the interference is present on both time slots. Such an 
approach results in conservative estimates of interference levels. 
The present "interference limited" PWL system preferably includes power 
control for reducing the spread in received signal power between short 
links and long links. A terminal having a high path loss to its base 
station should transmit more power than a terminal having a low path loss. 
Similarly, a base station transmitter transmitting toward high path loss 
terminals may transmit higher power than it transmits toward lower path 
loss terminals. It will be appreciated that when signal strengths 
measurements are obtained for data base construction and updating, the 
correct transmit power level should be used. 
In further embodiments, transmitted power can be controlled dynamically, 
wherein the system compensates for the interference power existing at the 
time. In such a method, the transmitting power of all transmitters in the 
system is not fixed. In one embodiment of dynamic power control, the 
transmit power is determined once before the link goes on the air, and is 
fixed thereafter. In other embodiments, the transmit power can be changed 
at any time based on the prevailing quality of the link. 
It should be understood that embodiments wherein transmit power is 
determined once before air time and then fixed require significantly less 
coordination, calculations and information flow between the cell 
controllers than is required for the embodiments in which transmit power 
remains variable. In the exemplary embodiments of the present invention 
described herein, transmit power is fixed. Power control can be 
implemented in a variety of ways by those skilled in the art. 
The interference level will typically change significantly from link to 
link depending on the location of other links active at the time. 
Moreover, it is expected that on the average the downlinks will experience 
lower interference than the uplinks. The reason for this is that the 
intra-cell subset of downlink interferers, i.e., the interference caused 
by other beams emanating from the same base station 10, are likely to fade 
in correlation with the desired signal itself, since they are all 
traveling on the same path or set of paths. 
As such, in some preferred embodiments, an adaptive coding and/or 
modulation method is implemented to salvage time slots that are otherwise 
unusable. For example, two time slots with low rate coding can be assigned 
if a single time slot cannot provide the required performance. 
Alternatively or in conjunction with adaptive coding and modulation, a form 
of time diversity can be implemented by assigning multiple time slots to 
one terminal 15.sub.i, exploiting the fact that interference on different 
time slots is generated by different transmitters that fade independently. 
Such a method is particularly advantageous when the interference in each 
time slot is dominated by a single emitter, which reaches the receiver 
through a Rayleigh fading channel. In other embodiments, angle diversity 
can be used. In such a case, two beams could be used on the same time slot 
to utilize two replicas of the signal, arriving from different directions. 
As is customary in telephony, the number of installed terminals 15 
significantly exceeds the capacity of the system, which means that a 
terminal 15.sub.i may be rejected when applying for service. Given a set 
amount of installed terminals and the typical limitations of a FWL system, 
a TDM-based FWL system according to the present invention lowers the 
probability of such a rejection, compared to conventional systems. 
The set of active terminals 15 is therefore a subset of the total 
population of terminals in a cell 5. This subset changes with time as 
dormant terminals apply for, and are granted service, and active terminals 
conclude their session and "hang up". According to the present invention, 
the task of controlling access to the air and allocating beams 20 and 21 
and times slots 35.sub.1-T is performed by a cell controller 25, shown in 
FIG. 16. 
The cell controller 25 is preferably implemented as a suitably-programmed 
microprocessor that is located at the base station 10 of each cell 5. 
Among other functions, the cell controller 25 receives and processes 
applications for service by previously dormant terminals 15. The request 
can be carried over a control channel 27, which can be implemented in a 
variety of ways known to those skilled in the art with small effect on 
system capacity. For example, the control channel 27 can be established on 
a frequency other than the frequencies .function..sub.1 and 
.function..sub.2 utilized for uplink and downlink. 
An exemplary method according to the present invention by which the cell 
controller processes a service request by a terminal 15.sub.i is 
illustrated in FIG. 4. As shown in operation block 101 of FIG. 4, the cell 
controller 25 receives a service request S1 over the control channel 27. 
The cell controller 25 searches for a suitable uplink time slot for the 
terminal, as indicated by operation block 103. 
In the present context, a suitable uplink slot preferably satisfies two 
conditions. First, the interference level at the base station's receiver 
should be low enough to allow acceptable reception. Second, the requesting 
terminal's transmission on that slot should not affect other base stations 
that are already on the air on that slot to such an extent that its link's 
performance becomes unacceptable. 
If a suitable uplink slot is found, the cell controller 25 then searches 
for a suitable downlink time slot for the terminal, as noted in operation 
block 107. A suitable downlink slot similarly satisfies two conditions. 
First, the interference level at the terminal's receiver should be low 
enough to allow satisfactory reception. Second, the base station's 
transmission on the slot should not degrade the performance of other 
on-air terminals to the point of unacceptability. It should be understood 
that there is presently no preference for which slot is searched first. 
It should be understood that the above-referenced "interference levels" and 
"unacceptable performance" are system design parameters that are dependent 
upon a variety of considerations, including, without limitation, 
modulation scheme, fading environment and the like. It is within the 
capabilities of those skilled in the art to define such terms for a 
particular implementation of a FWL system. A more detailed description of 
an exemplary method for selecting the uplink and downlink slots are 
provided later in this specification in conjunction with the discussion of 
FIG. 9. 
If the cell controller 25 does not find a suitable downlink slot and a 
suitable uplink slot, the application for service is rejected, as 
indicated in operation block 119. Thus, a TDM-based FWL system according 
to the present invention protects current users from interruptions and 
call-drops by blocking new users, if appropriate. This is in contrast to 
CDMA-based systems, in which "blocking" takes the form of incremental 
degradation of ongoing calls, leading, in some cases, to call drops. 
If an uplink and downlink slot are found, they are assigned to the terminal 
as shown by operation block 111. The requesting terminal is notified of 
such assignment per operation block 115. The cell controllers of other 
neighboring cells are apprised of the new link by the cell controller 25. 
Communication and coordination between neighboring cell controllers, which 
is a important feature of preferred embodiments of the present invention, 
is described in more detail later in this specification. 
After the cell controller 25 allocates the downlink and uplink slots to the 
requesting terminal 15.sub.i, it directs beam formers 40 to calculate the 
downlink beam and uplink beam for use during the appropriate time slots. 
The beam formers 40, which can be implemented as suitably programmed, 
dedicated microprocessors, "shape" each downlink beam 21 and each uplink 
beam 20 to maximize the signal-to-total-interference ratio ("S/TI"). The 
resulting uplink beam 20 radiation pattern exhibits "notches" at angular 
offsets from the main lobe positioned to attenuate the signals received 
from sources of significant interference ("strong interferers"). The 
resulting downlink beam 21 radiation pattern exhibits notches at angular 
offsets from the main lobe that are positioned to attenuate the signal 
received by terminals 15 that would experience significant interference 
from the transmission in the absence of such notches. Typically, a 
relatively "deeper" notch will be generated to attenuate a relatively 
strong interferer, while a relatively "shallower" notch is generated to 
attenuate a relatively weaker interferer. 
FIG. 5 shows an exemplary radiation pattern for a beam. The beam was 
calculated to attenuate six strong interferers located at six angular 
offsets from the center of the main lobe, PI, as indicated by the 
reference identifiers AZ1-AZ6. The plot in FIG. 5 shows that due to the 
radiation pattern of the base station's uplink beam 20, only a very low 
interfering-power signal is received from the six potential interferers at 
the angular offsets AZ1-AZ6. 
Further description of the beam formers 40, and exemplary methods by which 
they determine the optimal uplink and downlink beams are provided later in 
this specification in conjunction with the discussion of FIGS. 11-14 and 
16-18. 
It was noted above that, among other activities, the cell controller 
determines whether the requesting terminal's transmission on the uplink 
slot affects other base stations already on the air. Such a determination 
requires that the cell controller 25 of a given cell 5 has access to 
information concerning interference levels in links located in other 
cells. Such "inter-cell" coordination or communication, wherein beam 
shaping and slot assignment for a given cell are based not only on 
conditions within the given cell but also on conditions in neighboring 
cells allows for optimum functioning of the system. Preferred embodiments 
of the present invention utilize inter-cell coordination. 
If such inter-cell coordination is used, each cell controller 25 collects 
real-time information from "neighboring" cell controllers about activities 
in their cells and shares with them information regarding the activity in 
its own cell. Further description of the collected information is 
described later in this specification. Communication between neighboring 
cell controllers 25 can be accomplished using conventional wired digital 
communications technology. 
Neighboring cells 5 and neighboring cell controllers 25 are defined herein 
as those that belong to the "cluster" of a particular cell. A neighboring 
cell, such as the cell 5a, is considered to belong to the cluster of a 
particular cell, such as the cell 5c, if transmissions originating from 
cell 5a can cause "significant" interference with reception in cell 5c, or 
if transmissions originating from cell 5c can cause "significant" 
interference with reception in cell 5a. In other words, a cell never 
significantly affects and is never significantly affected by radio 
activities in cells that do not belong to its cluster, typically because a 
sufficiently large distance separates them. 
In the implementation of the present system by one skilled in the art, the 
term "significant" will require quantitative definition, such as, for 
example, a particular value of an interference power. The numerical value 
ultimately chosen to define "significant" interference results from 
compromises based on the design priorities for a particular application, 
e.g., capacity, signal to noise ratio, available computing power and the 
like. It is within the capabilities of those skilled in the art to 
quantitatively define the term "significant" in the context of a specific 
system design. 
In other less preferred embodiments, the present invention can be 
implemented using only "intra-cell" coordination. For embodiments 
utilizing intra-cell coordination alone, beam shaping and time-slot 
assignments for a given cell are based on minimizing mutual interference 
within the cell without regard to conditions in neighboring cells. For the 
remainder of this specification, the embodiments described will utilize 
inter-cell coordination. It should be understood, however, the various 
embodiments of the present invention may be implemented utilizing 
intra-cell, rather than inter-cell, coordination. 
A portion of the data that the cell controller 25 uses to make slot 
assignment decisions, and provides to the beam formers 40, shown in FIG. 
16 for beam forming calculations, is stored in a data base 45, shown in 
TABLES 1a and 1b and FIG. 16. In particular, each cell controller 25 
within a cluster accesses a data base 45 containing data pertaining to the 
mutual interference levels between every potential link within its cell 
and every potential link within its cluster. Since the cluster of each 
cell of a FWL system according to the present invention is distinct, the 
data base 45 accessed by a particular cell controller 25 is unique. The 
data base 45 can be implemented as a computer storage means located at 
each base station 10, or as a regional computer storage means serving some 
of the cell controllers, i.e., those within a region, of the FWL system. 
TABLE 1a and 1b, below, illustrate an exemplary conceptual organization for 
the data base 45. TABLE 1a presents an overview of the data base matrix. 
As previously mentioned, each cell controller 25 has its own data base. The 
phrase "in-cell" refers to the cell controller's perspective. In other 
words, in-cell links refer to links within the cell controller's cell. 
"In-cluster" links refer to links within the cell controller's cluster, 
which include links within the cell controller's cell. 
TABLE 1a 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
IN IN CLUSTER LINKS 
CELL 
CELL A CELL B . . . 
FINAL CELL 
LINKS 
(A, 1) 
(A, 2) 
. . . 
(A, n.sub.A) 
(B, 1) 
(B, 2) 
. . . 
(B, n.sub.B) 
. . . 
(FC, 1) 
(FC, 2) 
. . . 
(FC, n.sub.FC) 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
(1) -- -- . . . 
-- -- -- . . . 
-- . . . 
-- -- . . . 
-- 
(2) -- -- . . . 
-- -- -- . . . 
-- . . . 
-- -- . . . 
-- 
(3) -- -- . . . 
-- -- -- . . . 
-- . . . 
-- -- . . . 
-- 
(4) -- -- . . . 
-- -- -- . . . 
-- . . . 
-- -- . . . 
-- 
. -- -- . . . 
-- -- -- . . . 
-- . . . 
-- -- . . . 
-- 
. -- -- . . . 
-- -- -- . . . 
-- . . . 
-- -- . . . 
-- 
. -- -- . . . 
-- -- -- . . . 
-- . . . 
-- -- . . . 
-- 
(n) -- -- . . . 
-- -- -- . . . 
-- . . . 
-- -- . . . 
-- 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
As shown in TABLE 1a, the first column in the data base 45 lists all 
potential "in-cell" links. Paired with each potential in-cell link listed 
in the first column is every potential in-cluster link. Thus, in-cell link 
1 is paired with every other link in the cluster, including n.sub.A links 
(terminals) in cell A, n.sub.B links in cell B, through n.sub.FC links of 
the final cell of the cluster. Likewise, each other in-cell link, 2 
through n, is paired with every in-cluster link. 
TABLE 1b shows exemplary entries for the illustrative pair of links 
depicted in FIG. 6. FIG. 6 shows a cell 5f and a cell 5h belonging to cell 
5f's cluster. Cell 5f contains a link 47 between a base station 10f and a 
terminal 15f.sub.20, and cell 5h contains a link 49 between a base station 
10h and a terminal 15h.sub.3. Each link represents duplex operation, i.e, 
uplink and downlink. 
For the purposes of illustration, it is assumed that the data base 45 shown 
in TABLE 1b is the cell 5f data base. As such, link 47 is an in-cell link. 
The data base 45 contains six entries for each pair of links. Four of the 
entries pertain to the mutual interference levels between a potential 
in-cell link, such as the link 47, and potential in-cluster links. Link 
49, for example, is one of many potential in-cluster links. The four 
interference values for each pair of links are described with reference to 
FIG. 6. 
First, link 47 in cell 5f may experience interference due to the link 49 in 
cell 5h. More specifically, transmission from terminal 15h.sub.3 on uplink 
49 may cause interference at base station 10f on uplink 47, identified by 
reference numeral 5 in FIG. 6. Moreover, transmission from base station 
10h on downlink 49 may cause interference at terminal 15f.sub.20 on 
downlink 47, identified by reference numeral 53. Secondly, link 49 in cell 
5h may experience interference due to link 47 in cell 5f. In particular, 
transmission from terminal 15f.sub.20 on uplink 47 may cause interference 
at base station 10h on uplink 49, identified by reference numeral 55. 
Additionally, mission from base station 10f on downlink 47 may cause 
interference at terminal 15h.sub.3 on ink 49, identified by reference 
numeral 57. 
TABLE 1b illustrates the data base entries for link 47 in cell f and 
in-cluster link 49. The first two entries under "Link (h, 3)," 47U and 
47D, represent values indicative of the interference experienced in cell f 
on uplink 47 and downlink 47, respectively. The next two entries, 49U and 
49D, represent values indicative of the interference experienced in cell h 
on uplink 49 and downlink 49, respectively. 
TABLE 1b 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
Exemplary Data Base of Cell f 
IN-CLUSTER LINKS 
CELL h 
In Link (h, 3) 
Cell 
Interference w/Cell f 
Interference by Cell f 
Azi. of Term. (h, 3) 
Azi. Of In-Cell 
Links 
uplink 
downlink 
uplink 
downlink 
from B.S. of Cell f 
Terminal 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
. 
. 
46 -- -- -- -- -- -- 
47 47U 47D 49U 49D AZH49 ZF47 
48 -- -- -- -- -- -- 
. 
. 
. 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
In the preferred embodiments, the values in the data base are expressed as 
normalized signal to interferer power ratios, which are defined herein as 
J/S. It should be understood that in other embodiments, the data base 
values can be expressed in other ways, for example, the received 
interfering signal strength and the like. 
As previously noted, a fifth and six entry is included for each link pair. 
The fifth entry is the "location" of the in-cluster terminal as seen from 
the in-cell base station, e.g., azimuth of the terminal 15h.sub.3 with 
respect to the main lobe of the beam of base station 10f, represented by 
AZH49. The location of an in-cluster terminal will be used by the beam 
formers 40 if instructed by the cell controller 25 to "notch out" that 
particular terminal. In such an instance, the cell controller 25 retrieves 
such information from the data base 45 and provides it to the appropriate 
beam former 40. Note that while in the data base 45, the location of the 
in-cluster terminal is preferably expressed as an "azimuth," for beam 
forming calculations, the location of the in-cluster terminal should be 
expressed as an "angular offset" to the main lobe of the beam. As such, 
the cell controller determines the difference between the azimuth of the 
in-cell terminal (direction of the main lobe of the beam) and the 
"azimuth" of the in-cluster terminal to express the in-cluster terminal's 
position as an angular offset. The six entry is the azimuth of the in-cell 
terminal as seen from its own base station, e.g., the azimuth of 
15f.sub.20 as viewed from 10f, represented by AZF47. 
Each entry in the data base 45 reflects a measured interferer to signal 
power ratio. Such ratios are initially determined when a terminal is first 
placed in service and, in preferred embodiments, periodically updated. 
Preferably, interference is measured as described below and as illustrated 
by the exemplary methods of FIGS. 7a and 7b. 
FIG. 7a illustrates an exemplary method for measuring down-link 
interference. As indicated in operation block 201, the base station 10 of 
a cell 5 ("the primary cell") directs a down-ink beam toward a terminal 
15.sub.i in its cell. The beam generated by the base station 10 for this 
measurement is the "standard pattern" beam without the interference 
attenuating notches. Further, the transmit power of the beam is adjusted 
so that the power received by the terminal 15.sub.i conforms to the power 
control scheme for normal operation. Each terminal 15 within the cell's 
cluster measures the received signal strength, per operation block 203. 
Each of the receiving terminals reports its measurement to its respective 
cell controller 25, as indicated in operation block 205. 
Knowing the predetermined received signal power for each terminal, the cell 
controller calculates the interferer to signal power ratio, if the data 
base values are to be expressed on this basis. 
Each cell controller 25 reports the results of the interference 
measurements to every cell controller in its cluster. This inter-cell 
communication is indicated in operation block 207. 
Decision block 209 queries whether the transmitting base station has 
transmitted to each terminal 15 in its cell. If not, the next terminal is 
selected, as indicated in operation block 211, and the base station of the 
primary cell transmits to that terminal. The received signal power 
measurements are repeated by all terminals in the cluster. In this manner, 
the base station 10 in the primary cell transmits to each terminal 15 in 
its cell 5, and each terminal 15 in the primary cell's cluster measures 
the received signal strength during such transmission. This completes the 
downlink measurements involving the base station 10 of the primary cell. 
Once all downlink measurements for the cell are completed, the measurements 
for another cell can begin, as indicated in operation block 213. 
A preferred embodiment of a method for measuring uplink interference is 
shown in FIG. 7b. As indicated in operation block 221, a terminal 15.sub.i 
in a cell 5, again the "primary cell," transmits to its base station, 
which directs a standard pattern uplink beam 20 toward that terminal. The 
transmit power of the terminal is adjusted so that the received power at 
the base station conforms with the power control scheme for normal 
operation. According to operation block 223, all other uplink beams 20 of 
the primary cell's cluster are directed to each of the terminals 15 within 
the respective cells of such beams, terminal by terminal, during the 
aformentioned transmission. In this manner, the signal power received by 
an uplink beam when facing every terminal in its cell, due to the one 
transmitting terminal in the primary cell, is measured and recorded. 
Again, the standard radiation pattern of the base station antenna is used 
for measurements, and, if desired, the cell controller will express the 
measurement results as the normalized signal to interferer power ratio, 
i.e., interferer power to signal power. 
The cell controllers in the cluster, including the primary cell, share the 
measured information with the each cell controller within their cluster, 
per operation block 225. Decision block 227 queries whether every terminal 
within the primary cell has transmitted to its base station. If not, 
another terminal 15 within the primary cell is selected to transmit, as 
indicated in operation block 229, and the aforementioned signal power 
measurements are repeated. Such measurements continue until each terminal 
15 within the primary cell has transmitted to the base station 10. Another 
cell then becomes the primary cell, as indicated in operation block 231, 
and the interference measurements continue. 
Azimuths of in-cell terminals stored in the data base 45 are preferably 
based on the actual angle of arrival of the strongest multipath replica of 
the desired signal traveling between a base station 10 and the terminal 
15.sub.i, not a map derived azimuth. When installing a terminal antenna, 
it is preferable to search for the best location and tune the antenna for 
the best reception. This may be accomplished by scanning with the base 
station antenna to locate the direction of arrival of the strongest 
multipath component of the signal. Based on such measurements, and in 
conformity with the power control scheme, the transmit power for each 
transmitter is selected. Note that since uplink and downlink preferably 
use different transmission frequencies, the measurement must be carried 
out for both frequencies and some kind of compromise chosen. 
For practical reasons, the azimuth of an out-of-cell terminal is based on 
map-derived azimuths. While it may be desirable to store measured azimuths 
in preference to map-derived azimuths, obtaining such data would 
significantly complicate data acquisition. It is believed that such an 
approach is not presently practical due to the enormity of such a task. 
For smaller scale systems, however, it might be practical to measure the 
actual angle of arrival of the dominant interferer signal for any pair of 
a base station and in-cluster terminal. 
In preferred embodiments, a TDM-based FWL system according to the present 
invention includes appropriate electronics and software for automatic 
database updating using time slots 35 allocated for such purpose for the 
duration of the measurements. 
In addition to the data base 45, each cell controller 25 maintains its own 
list of in-cell and in-cluster active links 46. The list 46 contains all 
active links in the given cell's cluster, the time slots allocated for the 
uplink and downlink, and an estimate of the interference-to-signal ratio 
(TI/S) or the inverse thereof experienced by the uplink receiver (located 
at the base station) and the downlink receiver (located at the terminal). 
The cell controller 25 calculates the S/TI for links within its cell using 
the data base entries, the current list of active links in its cluster and 
the actual radiation patterns generated to support each link within its 
cell. As to out-of-cell active links, the cell controller 25 relies on the 
other cell controllers in its cluster to provide it with the identity, 
allocated time slots and S/TIs of those links. Such inter-cell 
communication is required since the cell controller of a given cell cannot 
calculate the S/TI for a link in another cell since each cell has a 
distinct cluster. The aforementioned out-of-cell (but in-cluster) 
information is provided to the cell controller 25 by input data S3.sub.in, 
as shown in FIG. 8. 
The cell controller 25 of a particular cell takes certain actions with 
respect to its list 46 when advised of changes in active links anywhere in 
its cluster. For example, the cell controller 25 may be advised, via input 
data S2, that a terminal within its cell is going off-the-air. In 
response, the cell controller deletes the uplink and downlink associated 
with the terminal from the list 46 as indicated by operation block S2P, 
recalculates the S/TI for all links in its cell as per operation block 
121, and informs, via output data S3.sub.out, other cell controllers in 
its cluster of the deletion and the revised S/TI values, as indicated in 
operation block 127. The cell controller may similarly receive data input 
S3.sub.in, which may contain information pertaining to the addition or 
deletion of out-of-cell links. In response, the controller updates the 
entries in its list 46, as indicated in operation block S3P in FIG. 8. It 
then recalculates the S/TI of its cell links as per operation block 121, 
and advises the rest of the controllers in its cluster about the updated 
values per operation block 127. 
When a cell controller deletes or activates a new link within its own cell, 
as indicated, respectively, by operation blocks S2P and S1P, or when 
apprised of a change in status of an out-of-cell link within its cluster 
via data input S3.sub.in, a cell controller may optionally alter any of 
its same-slotted uplink beams, as indicated in operation block 123. Such 
alteration is for the purpose of minimizing interference caused by the new 
link. The cell controller then recalculates the S/TI for all same-slotted 
links within its cell. A controller may likewise decide to alter its 
same-slotted downlink beams, as indicated in operation block 125. Such 
alteration is for the purpose of protecting the new link. The cell 
controller will advise, via S3.sub.out the cell controllers in its cluster 
of the updated S/TI of the uplink beams, as indicated in operation block 
127. In presently preferred embodiments, it will not, however, advise 
other cell controllers of adjustments in the S/TI of downlink beams. Such 
silence is for the purpose of limiting inter-controller data flow. It 
should be understood that in other less preferred embodiments, other cell 
controllers may be advised of adjustments in the S/TI of downlink beams. 
While more readily apparent for the case in which a link is added, it is 
advantageous for a cell controller to alter its beams even for the case of 
an out-of-cell terminal going off-the-air. In altering its beams by 
deleting unnecessary notches, the cell controller facilitates generating 
new notches as required, thereby improving system capacity. 
When a cell controller calculates the S/TI (or its inverse) for links 
within its cell, it uses the normalized signal to interference 
measurements from the data base. Since, as previously described, the data 
base measurements are obtained using standard radiation patterns, i.e., 
the beams used do not include interference mitigating notches, the 
calculated S/TI should be conservative. 
As described above in conjunction with FIG. 4, when a service request is 
received, the cell controller 25 allocates a receive slot on an uplink 
beam 20 and a transmit slot on an downlink beam 21 if it finds suitable 
slots. The cell controller 25 utilizes information from its data base 45 
and list of active links 46 in order to do so. Having described the data 
base 45 and list of active links 46, an exemplary method by which the cell 
controller allocates uplink and downlink slots can now be described. 
With reference to uplink slots, the cell controller estimates the S/TI at 
the base station receiver for the proposed link on a first time slot 
35.sub.i, as shown in operation block 131 of FIG. 9. In determining an 
uplink slot's suitability, the cell controller 25 takes into account the 
ability of the uplink beam former 40 within its cell 5 to generate a beam 
20 with a plurality of suitably deep notches to attenuate interference 
from a small group containing the strongest interferers. 
The actual achievable interferer attenuation in terms of the ratio between 
the peak of the main lobe, such as the peak P1 shown in FIG. 5, and the 
level of the radiation pattern in the direction of the interferer, such as 
indicated at angular offsets AZ1-AZ6, depends on many factors including, 
for example, the physical configuration of the antenna, the number of 
interferers the beam former 40 is trying to attenuate, the angular 
location of the interferers with respect to the main lobe, the relative 
power of each interferer, and the antenna tolerances, i.e., the extent by 
which the actual structure and electronic circuitry differ from the 
information known to the corresponding beam former. In particular, phase 
and amplitude drifts can significantly affect the depth and precise 
location of the notches produced. Nevertheless, given the structural and 
electrical composition of the antenna and the calibration procedures, it 
is possible to establish a simple worst case lower bound on the "notch 
depth" that will almost always be exceeded for a small number of 
interferers located out a sector considered to be the "main lobe". For 
example, a lower bound signal to interference ratio of 35 dB might be 
assumed for interferers located out of the main lobe, while inside the 
main lobe, the standard pattern is assumed. 
Thus, in one embodiment, the cell controller 25 uses the aforementioned 
bound to calculate the expected S/TI at the base station receiver. The 
expected S/TI at the base station receiver based on the data base can be 
expressed as S/[.SIGMA.J.sub.i ], where S is the signal power and J.sub.i 
is the power received from the ith interferer when standard pattern beams 
are used. Notches can be implemented in certain directions in order to 
attenuate a selected group of strong interferers by using a factor 
.beta..sub.i. .beta..sub.i J.sub.i is the interference power remaining 
after the introduction of the notch. Given the bound, .beta..sub.i is 
easily determined for each notched out interferer. The factor .beta. 
therefore takes into account the additional reduction in interferer power 
as defined by the bound. For those interferers that are not notched out, 
.beta.=1. The resulting TI/S is thus [.SIGMA..beta..sub.i J.sub.i ]/S. 
In an alternative embodiment, rather than using an assumed notch depth, the 
cell controller 25 calculates the radiation pattern using an exemplary 
method described later in this specification. The exemplary method 
determines an optimum "weighting vector" required to generate the beam and 
also calculates the S/TI. Preferably, the cell controller 25 should allow 
some margin to account for electrical and mechanical errors that limit the 
achieveable "depth" of the calculated notches. 
In decision block 133, the cell controller queries whether the revised S/TI 
for the base station receiver is greater than or equal to a threshold 
S/TI, i.e., the minimum S/TI for "acceptable" reception. If the new S/TI 
is less than the threshold value, the cell controller checks to see if all 
uplink slots have been checked, per decision block 134. If all slots have 
been checked, and none have been found acceptable per block 135, the 
request is rejected. If not, then the calculation is repeated for another 
slot, as indicated in operation block 136. 
If the calculated S/TI is equal to or greater to the threshold value, then 
the cell controller determines, in operation block 137, if adding the link 
affects other base stations that are already on-the-air on that slot to 
such an extent that the reception of at least one other link becomes 
unacceptable. This is accomplished by recalculating the S/TI for all 
active uplinks in the cluster. To perform this calculation, the cell 
controller 25 retrieves the S/TI of each of such active links from its 
list 46 and determiness the effect of the additional interference, based 
on the corresponding data base entry. The new value of S/TI resulting from 
the addition of the considered new link is: 
##EQU1## 
If the calculated S/TI of any of the on-the-air links degrade beyond the 
point of acceptability, the time slot is rejected. 
In considering the effect of the added terminal 15 on other terminals, the 
cell controller 25 does not rely on the ability of other base stations 10 
to generate radiation pattern notches intended to minimize the interfering 
effect of the terminal 15.sub.i. The reason for this is that other cell 
controllers cannot respond to such a request in "real time." Thus, the 
cell controller 25 will approve a receive slot only if all of the 
out-of-cell active uplinks using that slot can sustain the additional 
expected interference before adjusting their current beam. After 
notification of a new link, the cell controllers of affected cells will, 
however, preferably reduce their received interference by altering their 
uplink beams 20 as previously noted in conjunction with the discussion of 
FIG. 8. 
Decision block 138 queries if the S/TI for all existing links is equal to 
or greater than a threshold value. If so, an uplink slot is found, per 
block 139. If the S/TI for one or more links is less than the threshold, 
then the time slot under consideration is rejected. If all time slots have 
been considered, then the request for service is denied. If additional 
time slots remain to be checked, the next slot is selected per operation 
block 136 and the S/TI for the time slot is calculated and processed as 
previously described. 
The cell controller 25 performs essentially the same steps when considering 
a downlink slot. In operation block 131, the S/TI of the terminal receiver 
is calculated for a candidate time slot. The interference at the terminal 
receiver will be caused by other base stations. The cell controller will 
not rely on the ability of the controllers of such other base stations to 
alter their downlink beams by adding a notch for the benefit of the 
requesting terminal. As such, the calculated S/TI is based on the data 
base. 
If the calculated S/TI at the receiver for the candidate slot is greater 
than or equal to a threshold value, the cell controller further verifies 
that all of the terminals 15 in its cluster currently receiving on that 
slot can sustain the additional interference of the base station's 
transmission. For this calculation, the cell controller 25 calculates the 
affected S/TI values using values from the data base 45. If necessary, the 
cell controller can rely on the ability of its beam formers to generate a 
number of notches, the depth of which can be conservatively estimated 
using a bound. 
All calculations and comparisons are repeated until a suitable pair of 
slots are found or until all time slots have been checked and no suitable 
pair of slots are found. If the cell controller 25 finds a pair of slots 
satisfying the requirements, it will direct the beam formers 40 to 
generate the receive and transmit beams during the selected slots. 
Otherwise the requesting terminal will be denied access. 
Beam forming has been referenced briefly a number of times above. A more 
detailed description of beam forming is now provided. It will be 
appreciated that the beam formers 40 must complete their calculations 
rapidly to avoid system delays. A dedicated powerful microprocessor may be 
required for each beam former. 
The cell controller 25 provides each beam former 40 with specific 
information required for beam forming. More particularly, to calculate the 
radiation pattern for a downlink beam 21 for transmission to a terminal 
15.sub.i, a beam former 40 is provided with: 
(i) the azimuth of the terminal 15.sub.i ; 
(ii) a short list, which can be empty, of phase offsets (measured with 
reference to the main lobe) to avoid; and 
(iii) a quantity representing the relative importance of transmission 
suppression on each phase offset. 
To calculate the radiation pattern for an uplink beam 20 for receiving a 
transmission from terminal 15.sub.i, a beam former 40 is provided with: 
(i) the azimuth of the terminal 15.sub.i ; 
(ii) a short list, which can be empty, of phase offsets to "null out;" and 
(iii) the anticipated power of every interferer in the short list, which is 
obtained from the data base 45. 
Both radiation pattern calculations can be calculated according to the 
exemplary methods described later in this specification. The calculations 
are very similar, a difference being that, for the downlink, the "quantity 
representing the relative importance of transmission suppression on each 
phase offset" must first be expressed as a "virtual interferer power" 
through a simple monotonically increasing conversion function. For 
example, consider link A and link B, both of which appear in the short 
list provided to the downlink beamformer 40. Reception on link A is 
marginal, while reception on link B is better, i.e., a higher S/TI ratio. 
The virtual interferer power corresponding to link A should result in a 
relatively deeper notch being formed in the direction of link A than the 
notch formed in the direction of link B. It should be understood that such 
a function is dependent upon the specific configuration of the base 
station antenna, among other considerations, and is selected by the 
antenna designer. Selection of such a function is within the capabilities 
of those skilled in the art. 
The result of the calculations is the weighting vector, W. The calculated 
vector is then stored and reused during the same time slot 35 in following 
frames 30. Note that a notch resulting from the beam forming calculations 
provides a S/TI at the receiver that is greater than or equal to the S/TI 
estimated during slot allocation using the lower bound signal to 
interference value. 
Beam forming operations are described in more detail in conjunction with 
FIGS. 11-14. To facilitate the description, the preferred configuration of 
the base station antenna will be provided. The terminal antenna is 
described, as well. 
It is desirable for the antenna located at each terminal 15.sub.1-N to be 
small, inexpensive and easy to install. Notwithstanding the desire for 
simplicity, in some embodiments, the terminal antenna is mechanically 
adjustable in such a way that a radiation dip can be realized in one or 
two directions. The reason for this is that a large portion of the 
interference power typically comes from a single source. Interference may 
thus be attenuated, albeit crudely, by an installation-time adjustment 
based on the geographic location of the base station that is expected to 
be the main source or object of interference. 
In one embodiment, the terminal antenna is fabricated from two parts such 
that the spacing between the parts can be mechanically adjusted. Such an 
antenna will have a variable width main lobe bordering a notch that can be 
mechanically adjusted over a limited angular range. Other physical 
configurations for achieving the aforementioned objective will occur to 
those skilled in the art. 
The base station's antenna is considerably more complex than the terminal 
antenna. The base station's antenna is a phased array antenna capable of 
simultaneously generating N transmit beams and N receive beams. The 
transmit and receive beams are independently steerable in any direction in 
the horizontal plane under the control of a beam former 40. When steered 
in azimuth, a beam maintains an approximately fixed beamwidth in the 
vertical plane. Preferably, the beamwidth ranges from 15 to 20 degrees at 
the 3 dB points. In areas that are flat, narrower vertical beams can 
advantageously be used. 
The antenna of the base station 10 is preferably configured as a planar 
circular array having vertically-placed radiating elements attached to the 
surface of a virtual vertical cylinder of radius R. The centers of such 
radiators are aligned thereby defining a ring in the horizontal plane. 
Each radiating element can be, for example, a vertical colinear array of 
some basic radiator. An exemplary radiation pattern of a radiating element 
in the horizontal plane is shown in FIG. 10. The pattern shown in FIG. 10 
is the measured pattern of a vertical array of four patch antennas. 
Antenna size is dictated, as a practical matter, by frequency, real estate 
and cost considerations. Configurations other than a planar circular array 
can suitably be used. 
In order to take full advantage of the directivity of individual radiators 
and minimize the effects that might otherwise result from hardware and 
harnesses that may be installed inside the cylindrical volume, only part 
of the total number of radiators are active to generate the beam. The 
active radiators occupy a sector facing the direction of the desired beam, 
and are distributed approximately equally on either side of a line 
crossing the center of the circular structure pointing toward the desired 
direction of the main lobe. The sector including the active radiators is 
referred to herein as "the active sector" of the beam. The angular width, 
.alpha., of the active sector is a free design parameter that should be 
optimized for the selected radiation pattern of the individual radiator 
and the number of radiators in the cylindrical array. 
An exemplary method for generating the "standard pattern" of an uplink beam 
is described below. As indicated in operation block 141 of FIG. 11, a 
weighting vector, W, is generated that optimizes the S/TI at the antenna 
output. A detailed description of the calculation method is provided later 
in this specification. For the calculations, it is assumed that a base 
station 10 antenna is located at the center of a large circle placed in a 
horizontal plane, as shown in FIG. 12. A large number, I, of equal power 
noise sources 301 are assumed to be equally spaced along the circumference 
of the circle, and such sources cover the complete circumference except 
for a clear window region 303 that is free of noise sources and has one 
signal source 305, which is the desired signal, located at the center of 
the region 303. The width of the clear window 303 is a design parameter to 
be optimized. Such optimization can be performed, for example, by using 
the exemplary calculation method for determining the optimal weighting 
vector described below for several values of window width and choosing the 
one yields the best S/TI. 
As indicated in operation block 143 of FIG. 11, the optimal weighting 
vector is stored and later used in the same time slots 35 in following 
frames 30. According to operation block 147, the S/TI is calculated and 
provided to the cell controller 25, and, ultimately, to other cell 
controllers in the cluster. Meanwhile, beam forming electronics, described 
in conjunction with FIGS. 15-17, generate the beam, per operation block 
149. FIG. 13 provides a conceptual illustration of how the weighting 
vector W is used to generate a beam. 
As shown in FIG. 13, signals S.sub.1 -S.sub.k received by K radiating 
antenna elements 307 are multiplied, using multipliers 423, by the 
corresponding component of the vector W and then summed to produce a 
radiation pattern that optimizes the S/TI at the antenna output. 
Generating the optimum S/TI as described above results in the "standard" 
radiation pattern previously mentioned in conjunction with measurements 
for the data base 45. Beams having a standard radiation pattern address 
the large number of background interferers 301 without taking into account 
the location and power of any interferer in particular. In a further 
preferred embodiment, if the location and relative power of a group of 
especially strong interferers are known, they can be considered in 
addition to the large number of equal power interference sources 301 in 
deriving the optimal weighting vector W. Such specific interferers are 
illustrated in FIG. 14. 
Essentially the same method is followed to generate the weighting vector W 
for the downlink beams 21. As previously described, the method differs in 
that a virtual signal source is placed in the desired transmission 
direction and virtual interferers are placed in the directions in which 
interference generation is to be avoided. The power of the virtual 
interferers reflects the importance assigned to minimizing transmission in 
those directions. 
In response to locating virtual interferers in certain directions, a beam 
former 40 generates a beam having notches in those directions. The depth 
of each notch reflects the power of the virtual interferer. It should be 
understood that while in theory notch depth (expressed in dB with 
reference to the beam's main lobe) is unlimited, in practice, notch depth 
is limited. In particular, notch depth is limited by the propagation 
irregularities such as multipath propagation, reflections from conducting 
objects, and the like. Also, as previously mentioned, notch depth is 
limited by antenna tolerances. 
After determining the optimal W, the S/TI is calculated. An exemplary 
method for determining the weighting vector W in a way that optimizes the 
S/TI at the antenna output now follows. 
The radiation pattern of each radiator in the horizontal plane is g(.PHI.), 
where the array consists of K radiators arranged along a circular section. 
The amplitude of the signal received by radiator k from a source located 
in the horizontal plane at angle .PHI. is proportional to the quantity 
S.sub.k (.PHI.), where the phase reference is the center of the circle of 
radius R: 
EQU S.sub.k 
(.PHI.)=g(.PHI.-.PHI..sub.k)Exp{j2.pi.(R/.lambda.)Cos(.PHI.-.PHI..sub.k)}A 
The signal voltage received by the complete array will be: 
##EQU2## 
where W.sub.k is the complex weight of the kth radiator. This inner 
product can be written as a multiplication of two column vectors: 
EQU V.sub.S =W'S(.PHI.) A3 
where W' indicates W transposed. 
A small number of dominant interferers are assumed to exist, whose angular 
location and field intensity in the area where the antenna is located are 
precisely known. In addition to those dominant interferers, a large number 
of "background" interferers exsists. The background interferers are not 
individually accounted for. Rather, they are replaced, for beam synthesis 
purposes, with uniformly spaced equal power interference sources. All 
interferers are assumed uncorrelated. 
The total number of interferers is represented by I. Then the noise voltage 
received by the kth radiator is: 
##EQU3## 
And the total interference voltage is: 
##EQU4## 
The expected interference power is: 
##EQU5## 
Where the "bar"e.g., W.sub.l, indicates the complex conjugate. When the 
interference sources are uncorrelated: 
EQU E{n.sub.j n.sub.i }=n.sub.j.sup.2 .delta..sub.jl A 7 
the interference power reduces to: 
##EQU6## 
This may be written in a compact matrix form: 
EQU P.sub.n =W*MW A9 
(W* is W conjugate and transpose) where the elements of M are given by: 
##EQU7## 
The signal power to interference power ratio may then be expressed as: 
##EQU8## 
S/TI reaches maximum when the weighting vector is chosen as: 
EQU W.sub.opt =M.sup.-1 S(.PHI.) A12 
Finding the optimal weight vector requires calculating the terms of a K by 
K matrix and then inverting it. If, however, only a single interferer is 
being added or dropped, the matrix can be modified using a "fast" 
algorithm, described later in this specification. 
Once W.sub.opt has been found, the radiation pattern is calculated from: 
EQU F(.PHI.)=S'(.PHI.)W.sub.opt A 13 
The S/TI obtained when using W.sub.opt can be calculated: Since: 
##EQU9## 
F(.PHI.) is a power ratio, and therefore should be converted to dB with: 
10Log(F(.PHI.)). 
In this application, -.delta..ltoreq..PHI..ltoreq..delta. where 2.delta. is 
the angular separation between two radiators. When there is a need to 
steer a beam out of this limited range, a new active range is selected, 
i.e., some (possibly all) radiators are replaced by others. 
The field generated by the array in direction (.PHI.,.theta.) is given by: 
##EQU10## 
where: 
EQU S.sub.k (.PHI.,.theta.)=g(.PHI.-.PHI..sub.k, .theta.) 
exp{j2.pi.(R/.lambda.)Cos(.alpha..sub.k)} A16 
and: 
EQU Cos(.alpha..sub.k)=Sin(.theta.)Cos(.PHI.-.PHI..sub.k) A17 
Substituting A16 & A17 into A15: 
##EQU11## 
The directivity of the antenna in direction (.PHI.,.theta.) can be 
calculated by determining: 
##EQU12## 
See, Sureau et al., "Sidelobe Control in Cylindrical Arrays," IEEE Trans. 
Ant. Prop., Vol. AP-30, no. 5, 1982; Applebaum, "Adaptive Arrays," IEEE 
Trans. Ant. Prop., Vol. AP-24, no. 5, 1976. 
EXAMPLE 
Assume that the antenna array contains 3K=96 elements spaced 0.55.lambda. 
apart around a horizontal circle. A beam is generated by activating only 
one third of such elements. The 32 activated elements are located on a 120 
degrees "horseshoe" facing the the location of the desired signal. The 
signal source is at .PHI.=0. 
The kth antenna element is therefore located at: 
EQU 2.pi.(k-K/2-0.5)/(3K) radians A19 
The radius, R, of the cylinder supporting the antenna elements is 
R=8.4033.lambda.. The amount of calculations can be limited by dividing 
the interferers to two groups. The first group represents a small number 
of dominant interferers whose precise location and intensity are known. 
Such dominant interferers are accounted for on an individual basis. The 
second group of interferers is considered to be a large number of equal 
power interferers placed uniformly around the antenna keeping a "clear 
window" of w radians. All interferers are considered uncorrelated. All the 
interferers generate the same noise power, n.sub.j, which is arbitrarily 
chosen as 1. The angle between any two interferers is: (2.pi.-w)/I 
radians. The ith interferer is located at: 
EQU w/2+(2.pi.-w)(i-0.5)/I A20 
The "clear window" is generated by setting the power of the two interferers 
on either side of (.PHI.=0 to 0. w is therefore equal to 2(2.pi./100). 
Substituting equations A15 and A16 into equation 1: 
EQU S.sub.k (.PHI..sub.i)=g(w/2+(i-0.5)(2.pi.-w)/ 
I-2.pi.(k-K/2-0.5)/(3K)).multidot.exp{j2.pi.(R/.lambda.) 
Cos(w/2+(i-0.5)(2.pi.-w)/I-2.pi.(k-16.5)/(3K))} A21 
For the chosen parameters, the radiation pattern obtained with I&gt;100 is 
essentially independent of I. Therefore I is chosen to be 100. 
The function g(.PHI.) must be defined. For the present example, an analytic 
approximation to the measured radiation pattern of a "Patch Antenna" is 
used: 
EQU g(.PHI.)=Cos.sup.4 (.PHI./2)+0.17Cos.sup.4 ((.pi.-.PHI.)/2)-0.0568 A22 
Substituting equation A22 into A21, and A21 into A10, the covariance matrix 
M is obtained. W.sub.opt and the electric field F(.PHI.) are then 
calculated from equation A13. 
To find the optimal weighting vector for the case where a group of N strong 
interferers, each with interfering power n.sub.j.sup.2 ; j=1, . . . , N 
are known to exist at given angular locations, the corresponding terms are 
added to the elements of the matrix M (equation A10). The calculation 
proceeds according to the previously described method. The resulting 
radiation pattern is shown in FIG. 5 As long as the power of the strong 
interferers is not higher than the combined power of the interferers 
representing the background noise, the modified radiation pattern remains 
very close to the original (i.e., with no strong interferers) except at 
the "immediate vicinity" of a interferer, where a sharp notch appears. 
FIG. 5 shows the radiation pattern generated by the exemplary algorithm 
when 98 "weak" interferers (100 minus the 2 that were eliminated in order 
to generate the clear window) and in addition six "strong", equal power, 
interferers located as shown are specified. FIG. 14 shows the S/TI ratio 
when the power of the strong interferers is the independent variable. The 
signal power was first set in the absence of the strong interferers so 
that the resulting S/TI ratio obtained is 30 dB. It can be seen that when 
the antenna beam is adjusted to compensate for the increasing power of the 
"strong" interferers, as indicated by reference numeral 90, the S/TI ratio 
degrades very slowly, while when W is held fixed indicating no adjustment, 
as indicated by reference number 94, the S/TI degrades rapidly. 
Returning now to the issue of calculating the vector W. Since, the set of 
significant interferers for a given link can change relatively often, W 
must be recalculated frequently. Thus, in preferred embodiments, a "short 
cut" or "fast" method for recalculating an existing beam whenever a single 
interferer is added or deleted is utilized. An exemplary embodiment of 
such a fast method is described below. 
As previously described, e.g., equation A12, calculating W.sub.opt involves 
inverting the matrix M, which is a square KxK matrix. If K is large, i.e., 
there are many radiators, this is a calculation intensive task. Once the 
matrix M is known, however, modifying it to add or delete a single 
interferer can be done using a simplified method. The short-cut method 
uses the following theorem: 
If a matrix A can be written as: 
EQU A=B+.alpha.UV' 
where: U & V are column matrices, then: 
EQU A.sup.-1 =B.sup.-1 -.lambda..alpha.YZ' 
where: 
EQU Y=B.sup.-1 U; Z'=V'B.sup.-1 ; and .lambda.=1/(1+.alpha.Z'U) 
Based on the previous derivation the matrix M can be written as: 
##EQU13## 
where: S(.PHI..sub.j) is the column vector: [S.sub.1 (.PHI..sub.j) S.sub.2 
(.PHI..sub.j) . . . S.sub.K (.PHI..sub.j)]'; 
conj(S) is the complex conjugate of S, and S'(.PHI.) is the transpose of 
S(.PHI.). 
N is the number of additional interferers to be "notched" out, .PHI..sub.j 
with j=1, . . . , N is their location and n.sub.j.sup.2 is their 
corresponding power. M is the modified matrix and M.sub.nc is the matrix 
used in the original interference environment. 
As before: 
EQU W=M.sup.-1 conj(S(.PHI.)) 
Therefore, addition or deletion of the j.sup.th interferer means that the 
Matrix M should be modified as follows: 
EQU M.sup.(k) =M.sup.(k- 1)+.beta..sup.k n.sub.j.sup.2 conj(S(.PHI..sub.j)) 
S'(.PHI..sub.j) 
where: M.sup.(k) is the matrix used after the k.sup.th step (i.e., 
following the inclusion/deletion of the j.sup.th interferer); 
M.sup.(k-1) is the matrix used in the (k-1).sup.th step (i.e., the original 
matrix); 
.beta..sup.k -+1 if adding an interferer; .beta..sup.k =-1 if deleting an 
interferer. 
The new M matrix can be inverted as follows: 
EQU M.sup.(k)-1 =M.sup.(k-1)-1 -.lambda..alpha.YZ' 
where: Y=M.sup.(k-1)-1 U; U=conj(S(.PHI..sub.j)) 
Z'=V'M.sup.(K-1)-1 ; V=S'(.PHI..sub.j) 
.lambda.=1/(1+.alpha.Z'U); .alpha.=.beta..sup.k n.sub.j.sup.2 
and: 
EQU W.sup.k =M.sup.(k)-1 conj(S(0)) 
This method requires around 3K.sup.2 +2K multiplies. 
In a further preferred embodiment, the fast method can be further shortened 
by the following substitutions: 
Since: V=conj(U'); M=conj(M') and Z=conj(Y'), the optimal vector can be 
calculated directly by determining the following quantities: 
1. .alpha.=.beta.n.sup.2 
2Y=M.sup.(k-1)-1 U 
3. .lambda.=1/{1+.alpha.conj(Y')U} 
4. M.sup.(k)-1 =M.sup.(k-1)-1.lambda..alpha.Yconj(y') 
5. W.sup.(k) =W.sup.(k-1) -.lambda..alpha.Y conj(Y')conj(S(0)) 
where: W.sup.(k) is the new optimal weighing vector to be used in step k 
and W.sup.(k-1) is the optimal vector used in step k-1. 
This method requires around 2K.sup.2 +4K multiplies and 2K.sup.2 +3K 
additions. In comparison, the direct method of calculating the M matrix 
and inverting it to find the optimal W requires around K.sup.2 
+K+O(K.sup.3) multiplies. 
Block diagrams of some of the important signal receiving, beam generating 
and signal transmitting electronics of a base station 10 are shown in 
FIGS. 16-18. It should be understood that such block diagrams omit many 
components that are not essential for understanding the invention, e.g., 
filters, IF amplifiers and the like. It will be appreciated that 
illustrations are provided to facilitate understanding of the invention, 
not to limit its scope. 
FIG. 16 illustrates exemplary base station transmit (downlink) electronics 
for a multiple beam system according to the present invention. A number, 
N, of transmit modems 401, preferably operating at IF frequency, each 
provide a signal, S.sub.i, intended for transmission to a terminal 15. The 
number N is the number of transmit (downlink) beams DB1-DBN. The signals 
S.sub.1-N are provided, one each, to N power dividers 403. The power 
dividers 403 divide each signal S.sub.i into K channels C.sub.j. 
The N groups of K channels C.sub.j are sent to N banks of K multipliers 
405. The multipliers multiply each channel C.sub.j by the appropriate one 
of K sine waves generated by N phase and amplitude controllers 429. The 
amplitude and phase of each sine wave is dictated by the appropriate 
component of the weighting vector W, which is calculated by one of the 
downlink beam formers 40a under the control of the cell controller 25. 
The resultant K channels CO.sub.j for each beam are sent to a downlink 
switching and summing matrix 407, which, under the control of the cell 
controller 25, routes each of the groups of K channels CO.sub.1 -CO.sub.k 
into K contiguous possibly overlapping radiator channels CR.sub.1 
-CR.sub.k. All the radiator channels are fed to an up-converter 408. The 
up-converter 408 up-converts the output of the switching and summing 
matrix 407 to the transmit frequency. The up-converter comprises a bank of 
mixers 409, a power divider 433 and a local oscillator or synthesizer 431. 
Note that a common synthesizer 431 is used. 
The up-converted radiator channels are fed to a bank of M power amplifiers 
411, one per radiator, where M is the total number of radiators comprising 
the phased array antenna. The amplified channels are sent to a bank of M 
diplexers 413, one per antenna radiator. The diplexers route the channels 
to the K active radiators 415. 
FIG. 17 illustrates exemplary receive (uplink) electronics for a multiple 
beam system according to the present invention. The signals received by 
the radiators 415 pass through the bank of diplexers 413 to a bank of M 
low noise amplifiers 417 and then to a down converter 418. The 
down-converter 418 down-converts the frequency of the received signals for 
processing in the switching and dividing matrix. Like the up-converter 
408, the down-converter comprises a bank of mixers 419, a power divider 
437 and a local oscillator or synthesizer 435. Again, the synthesizer 435 
is common. 
The uplink switching and dividing matrix 421, under the control of the cell 
controller 25, routes the signals from N groups of K contiguous radiators 
to the appropriate beam electronics. N banks of K multipliers each 
multiply the K signals for each beam by the appropriate one of K sine 
waves generated by N phase and amplitude controllers 439. The amplitude 
and phase of each sine wave is dictated by the appropriate component of 
the weighting vector W, which is calculated by one of the uplink beam 
formers 40b under the control of the cell controller 25. 
The K signals comprising an uplink beam UB1-UBN are fed to a power combiner 
425, which feeds the combined signal to one of N receive modems 427. 
FIG. 18 shows an exemplary architecture of the phase and amplitude 
controllers. Each phase and amplitude controller 429, 439 includes K 
direct digital synthesizers (DDSs) 441. Each DDS 441 generates a sine 
wave, the phase and amplitude of which is controlled by an appropriate one 
of K signals BFS.sub.1-K for a given uplink or downlink beam generated by 
the respective beam formers 40b, 40a. The bank of K DDSs is clocked by a 
common clock line, CL, and reset by a common reset line, RL. Bandpass 
filters 443 ensure that the signal sent to the mixers 423 are clean of 
undesired spurious. Amplifiers 445 amplify the signals produced by the 
DDSs. 441. 
Although a number of specific embodiments of this invention have been shown 
and described herein, it is to be understood that these embodiments are 
merely illustrative of the many possible specific arrangements that can be 
devised in application of the principles of the invention. Numerous and 
varied other arrangements can be devised in accordance with these 
principles by those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from 
the scope and spirit of the invention. 
For instance, other known methodologies can be used in conjunction with the 
present "open loop" method. One example of this is using an "adaptive 
beamforming" in an attempt to improve the S/TI of a received signal once 
the signal is already on-the-air. An adaptive beam may be implemented by 
using a closed-loop adaptation algorithm driven by the designated receiver 
of each receive beam. Such closed-loop adaptation algorithms are well 
known to those skilled in the art. Such a method night avoid the need for 
frequent calibrations of the base station's antenna system in order to 
counter possible drifts in the electronic circuitry supporting each 
individual radiator. Another feature of such a embodiment may be the 
ability of an adaptive beam to track temporal changes of links parameters.