Coverage enhancement for distributed antenna systems and repeaters by time-division beamforming

A distributed antenna system, comprising:

• a master unit communicatively coupled to a base station;
• and
• a plurality of remote antenna units communicatively coupled to and located remotely from the master unit, wherein the plurality of remote antenna units are distributed throughout a service area, wherein a first subset of the plurality of remote antenna units is configured to communicate wireless signals from a first base station sector, wherein a second subset of the plurality of remote antenna units is configured to communicate wireless signals from a second base station sector that is different from the first base station sector;
• wherein each respective remote antenna unit of the plurality of remote antenna units comprises:
• a beamforming circuit communicatively coupled to a phased antenna array included in or coupled to the respective remote antenna unit, wherein the phased antenna array is configured to generate a beam in a plurality of predefined directions and wirelessly communicate signals with user equipment in a coverage area of the phased antenna array, wherein the beamforming circuit is configured to adjust a direction of the beam generated by the phased antenna array to correspond to one of the plurality of predefined directions at a particular time according to a schedule;
• wherein the first subset of the plurality of remote antenna units and the second subset of the plurality of remote antenna units are configured to coordinate the respective schedules to avoid interference.