Directional wireless hotspot device and method for pointing a directional antenna

A directional wireless hotspot device for communication in a mobile network having a number of distributed cells, each cell having a cell ID associated with a fixed transceiver, the device comprising:

• a structure for holding electrical components;
• a directional antenna;
• a compass;
• a geographical positioning device;
• an electric motor for rotating the structure for holding electrical components around an axis substantially perpendicular to the directional antenna;
• a wireless modem or a receiving element arranged to receive an external wireless modem;
• a local communication element for communication with a local device;
• a microprocessor configured to calculate an azimuthal rotation angle and control the electric motor to point the directional antenna to one of the fixed transceivers based on:
• directional and positional data from the compass and geographical positioning device;
• positional data of the fixed transceivers;
• a housing.

A method for automatically pointing a directional antenna of a wireless communication device to a fixed transceiver in a mobile network having a plurality of distributed cells, each cell covered by at least one fixed transceiver, the method comprising the steps of:

• a) identifying a cell ID of a cell associated with the wireless communication device;
• b) obtaining or extracting positional data for the fixed transceiver associated with the cell ID;
• c) obtaining a reference azimuth corresponding to the direction of the directional antenna in a horizontal plane;
• d) obtaining a local position of the directional antenna;
• e) based on the positional data for the fixed transceiver and the local position of the directional antenna, calculating a pointing azimuth between the directional antenna and the fixed transceiver;
• f) calculating an azimuthal rotation angle between the reference azimuth and the pointing azimuth;
• g) rotating the directional antenna towards the fixed transceiver based on the calculated azimuthal rotation angle;
• h) continuously, or at intervals, repeating steps a-g,

An initialization sequence for automatically pointing a directional antenna of a wireless communication device to a fixed transceiver in a mobile network having a plurality of distributed cells, each cell covered by at least one fixed transceiver, the method comprising the steps of:

• a) identifying a cell ID of a cell associated with the wireless communication device, preferably a cell which the wireless communication device camps on;
• b) obtaining or extracting positional data for the fixed transceiver associated with the cell ID;
• c) obtaining a reference azimuth corresponding to the direction of the directional antenna in a horizontal plane;
• d) obtaining a local position of the directional antenna;
• e) based on the positional data for the fixed transceiver and the local position of the directional antenna, calculating a pointing azimuth between the directional antenna and the fixed transceiver;
• f) calculating an azimuthal rotation angle between the reference azimuth and the pointing azimuth;
• and
• g) rotating the directional antenna towards the fixed transceiver based on the calculated azimuthal rotation angle.