Patent ID: 8599861

Claim:
An active antenna array for a mobile communications network, the active antenna array comprising: a base band unit coupled to a base station; the base band unit comprising a central clocking unit providing a timing signal in response to a base station signal received from the base station a plurality of transceiver units, wherein individual ones of the plurality of transceiver units are terminated by at least one antenna element; a plurality of links coupling the individual ones of the plurality of transceiver units to the base band unit; wherein an individual link of the plurality of links is a digital link and relays an individual payload signal at an individual selectable payload rate and further relays the timing signal at a fixed timing rate, the timing signal being embedded in the payload signal at the individual selectable payload rate, wherein the payload rate of the individual payload signals is variable along the plurality of links and is selectable independently from the fixed timing rate; a plurality of local timing units located in the individual ones of the plurality of transceiver units, wherein the local timing units extract a local timing signal in response to the timing signal from the embedded payload signals for synchronizing the plurality of transceiver units to the central clocking unit.