Techniques for diminishing latency in a distributed antenna system
AssigneeOutdoor Wireless Networks LLC
InventorsStuart D. Sandberg, Theodore E. Dahlen, Christopher Goodman Ranson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Techniques are provided for diminishing latency in a DAS fronthaul network configured to convey time-domain transport data, e.g., time-domain digital transport data or time-domain digital data. Other techniques are provided for obtaining higher DAS fronthaul efficiency.
Claims13
A distributed antenna system (DAS) serving a base station, the distributed antenna system comprising:
- a donor card configured to communicatively couple the base station to the DAS and to communicate time-domain digital data therebetween;
- a plurality of radio units (RUs);
- a switched Ethernet network;
- and
- at least one intermediate combining node including a first port configured to receive a set of uplink time-domain digital data for the base station from each of one or more of the plurality of RUs and a second port configured to transmit a single set of combined uplink time-domain digital data, from the one or more of the plurality of RUs and for the base station, to the donor card through the switched Ethernet network.
A method of diminishing latency in a distributed antenna system (DAS) comprising a plurality of radio units (RUs) communicatively coupled through an intermediate combining node (ICN) to a switched Ethernet network, wherein the switched Ethernet network is communicatively coupled to a donor card, wherein the donor card is configured to communicatively couple the DAS to a base station and to communicate time-domain digital data there between, the method comprising:
- receiving at a first port of the ICN a set of uplink time-domain digital data for the base station from each of one or more of the plurality of RUs;
- generating, in the ICN, a single set of combined uplink time-domain digital data from the set of uplink time-domain digital data from each of the one or more of the plurality of RUs and for the base station;
- and
- transmitting from a second port of the ICN the single set of combined uplink time-domain digital data, for the base station, to the donor card through the switched Ethernet network.
A method of reducing consumption of capacity of an Ethernet link, the method comprising:
- determining a bit size, N″, of a payload block of each packet, wherein each packet comprises an application layer header of H bits and the payload block, wherein N″=Lmin*b*R, wherein Lmin is a minimum acceptable latency, b is a number of bits representing an IQ data sample, and R is a sample rate of data;
- and
- transmitting, in an uplink or a downlink path of a distributed antenna system, each packet of time domain-digital data over an Ethernet network, wherein each packet has a payload block bit size of N″ and an application layer header bit size of H, wherein capacity consumption in the Ethernet link in respectively the uplink and/or the downlink path is minimized.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.