Cellular signal enhancer

A portable signal enhancer for extending service coverage in a wireless communications system, comprising:

• a housing having a pair of oppositely facing surfaces and a size and weight that supports movement of the housing by hand from a first location to a second location;
• a dual polarized antenna mounted to each of the surfaces for radiating energy in a direction opposite to that of the antenna mounted to the other surface, each dual polarization antenna comprising a first antenna element having a first polarization state and a second antenna element having a second polarization state, wherein the first polarization state is different from the second polarization state;
• and
• a bidirectional amplifier (BDA), mounted within the housing, for amplifying signals between the dual polarized antenna on each of the pair of oppositely facing surfaces of the housing.

A method for controlling the gain in a downlink signal receiving path and the gain in an uplink signal transmitting signal path for a bidirectional amplifier (BDA) of a portable signal extender unit comprising the steps of:

• responsive to initially supplying electrical power to the signal extender unit, establishing an initialization state for the BDA by increasing the gain of the downlink signal receiving path and the uplink signal transmitting path until a predetermined operating signal level is achieved for one of the paths or a maximum predetermined gain level is achieved for the downlink signal receiving path;
• monitoring an output power level of the downlink signal receiving path and, in response to detection of the output power level exceeding a first threshold, decreasing the power level for the downlink signal receiving path and the uplink signal transmitting path;
• and
• monitoring an output power level of the uplink signal receiving path and, in response to detection of the output power level exceeding a second threshold, decreasing the power level for the downlink signal receiving path and the uplink signal transmitting path.

A portable signal enhancer for extending service coverage in a wireless communications system, comprising:

• a housing comprising a pair of oppositely facing surfaces;
• a dual polarized antenna mounted to each of the surfaces for radiating energy in a direction opposite to that of the antenna mounted to the other surface, each dual polarization antenna comprising a first antenna element having a first polarization state and a second antenna element having a second polarization state, wherein the first polarization state is different from the second polarization state to achieve a separation of signals received by the first antenna element and output by the second antenna element;
• and
• a bidirectional amplifier (BDA), mounted within the housing, for amplifying signals carried on a downlink signal path extending between the dual polarized antenna on each of the pair of oppositely facing surfaces of the housing and for amplifying signals carried on an uplink signal path extending between the dual polarized antenna on each of the pair of oppositely facing surfaces of the housing,
• wherein the downlink signal path comprises a downlink filter for defining a full bandwidth path for the BDA, the downlink filter comprising signal delay optimization characteristics to minimize group delay in the downlink signal path, and
• wherein the uplink signal path comprises an uplink filter for defining a full bandwidth path for the BDA, the uplink filter comprising signal delay optimization characteristics to minimize group delay in the uplink signal path.

A portable signal enhancer for extending service coverage in a wireless communications system, comprising:

• a housing comprising a pair of oppositely facing surfaces;
• a dual polarized antenna mounted to each of the surfaces for radiating energy in a direction opposite to that of the antenna mounted to the other surface, each dual polarization antenna comprising a first antenna element having a first polarization state and a second antenna element having a second polarization state, wherein the first polarization state is different from the second polarization state to achieve a separation of signals received by the first antenna element and output by the second antenna element;
• and
• a bidirectional amplifier (BDA) for amplifying signals carried on a downlink signal path extending between the first antenna element having a first polarization state for a first one of the dual polarized antennas and the second antenna element having a second polarization state for the second one of the dual polarized antennas and for amplifying signals carried on an uplink signal path extending between the second antenna element having a second polarization state for the first one of the dual polarized antennas and the first antenna element having a first polarization state for the second one of the dual polarized antennas.

A portable signal enhancer for extending service coverage in a wireless communications system, comprising:

• a housing having a pair of oppositely facing surfaces and an overall size and weight supporting movement of the housing by hand;
• a dual polarized antenna mounted to each of the surfaces for radiating energy in a direction opposite to that of the antenna mounted to the other surface, each dual polarization antenna comprising a first antenna element having a first polarization state and a second antenna element having a second polarization state;
• and
• a bidirectional amplifier (BDA), mounted within the housing, for amplifying signals carried on a downlink signal path extending between the dual polarized antenna on each of the pair of oppositely facing surfaces of the housing and for amplifying signals carried on an uplink signal path extending between the dual polarized antenna on each of the pair of oppositely facing surfaces of the housing,
• the BDA further comprising a gain control system operative to monitor an output power level of the downlink signal path and to decrease the power level for the downlink signal path if the output power level exceeds a first threshold, the gain control system further operative to monitor the output power level of the uplink signal path and to decrease the power level for the uplink signal path if the output power level exceeds a second threshold.