Digital radio frequency transceiver system and method

A method of transmitting and receiving radio frequency signals through an antenna system, comprising:

• providing an antenna system, a power amplifier located proximate to the antenna system, which receives a digital signal and produces a power amplified radio frequency signal having at least an amplitude dependent on the digital signal, for transmission through the antenna system, a signal receiver located proximate to the antenna system, and a base, located remotely from the antenna system;
• interconnecting the power amplifier and the base with a physical communications link configured to communicate using a digital signal, and the signal receiver and the base with a physical communications link configured to communicate an analog representation of a received radio frequency signal;
• processing, at the base, a source signal to produce the digital signal;
• transmitting the power amplified radio frequency signal from the antenna system corresponding to the digital signal received by the power amplifier from the base;
• receiving the analog representation of the received radio frequency signal by the base from the signal receiver corresponding to a radio frequency signal received by the antenna system;
• and
• processing, at the base, the received analog representation of the received radio frequency signal to produce a digital representation of the received analog representation of the received radio frequency signal.

A radio frequency transceiver, comprising:

• a power amplifier system having an amplifier output, configured to receive a digital signal, and to produce a power amplified radio frequency emission having at least an amplitude dependent on the digital signal from the amplifier output corresponding to an analog representation of information in the digital signal, from a co-located antenna system;
• a signal receiver system, co-located with the antenna system, configured to receive a radio frequency signal from the antenna system and to produce an analog radio frequency output signal corresponding to the received radio frequency signal;
• and
• a base system, located remotely from the antenna system, configured to:
• process a source signal to produce the digital signal;
• interconnect with at least one physical communications link configured to communicate the digital signal to the power amplifier system;
• receive the analog radio frequency output signal from the signal receiver system;
• and
• process the received analog radio frequency output signal to produce a digital representation of the analog radio frequency output signal.