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US 10,498,566 B2Granted
Small cell base stations having drone-mounted radio units and related systems and methods
AssigneeCommScope Technologies LLC
InventorBryan K. Kennedy
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A base station system includes a central hub having a baseband controller and a backhaul connection to an external network and a plurality of remote units that are connected to the central hub by respective wired power and cabling connections, each remote unit including an associated drone unit that has an aerial drone and a radio unit mounted thereon. The radio units are operated under control of the baseband controller to form a super cell that appears as a single base station to the external network.
Claims19
A base station system, comprising:
- a central hub having a baseband controller and a backhaul connection to an external network;
- a plurality of freestanding remote units that are directly connected to the central hub by respective wired power and cabling connections;
- a plurality of drone units, each of the plurality of drone units comprising an aerial drone and a radio unit mounted on the aerial drone, the plurality of drone units being connected to the plurality of freestanding remote units by a plurality of tether cables, respectively, and being configured to receive power over the plurality of tether cables;
- wherein the radio units are operated under control of the baseband controller to form a super cell that appears as a single base station to the external network.
1 more element
A method of operating a small cell base station, the method comprising:
- receiving a radio frequency (“RF”) communication from a user at one of a plurality of radio units, the plurality of radio units being mounted on a plurality of aerial drones, respectively, the plurality of aerial drones being connected to a plurality of freestanding remote units by a plurality of tether cables, respectively;
- powering the plurality of aerial drones and the plurality of radio units via power signals supplied to the plurality of aerial drones and the plurality of radio units from the plurality of freestanding remote units over the plurality of tether cables;
- transmitting data contained in the received RF communication from the one of the plurality of radio units to one of the plurality of freestanding remote units over one of the plurality of tether cables;
- and
- transmitting the data contained in the received RF communication from the one of the plurality of freestanding remote units to a central hub over a power-over-fiber system;
- wherein the central hub is directly connected to the plurality of remote units and comprises a baseband controller and a backhaul connection to an external network such that the radio unit in combination with the central hub appears as a single base station to the external network.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.