Patent ID: 8811925

Claim:
A communications system configured to improve a noise figure (NF) of a time division duplex (TDD) communications system, the system comprising: a pre-amplified antenna unit comprising a first plurality of antennas and first associated low-noise amplifiers (LNA) contained therein, each of said first associated LNA's being arranged to receive a signal from a first phase-matched pair of antennas selected from the plurality of antennas; and a variable gain circuit coupled to a TDD output signal of at least one of the first associated LNA's, wherein the variable gain circuit is configured to provide a selected negative gain to the TDD output signal, wherein the selected negative gain ensures that an output signal from the variable gain circuit is suitable for application to a remote radio head (RRH) input such that a dynamic range of the RRH input is not reduced below a desired dynamic range.